| Abstrak/Abstract |
Fusarium spp. have a significant status as a plant pathogen in maize cultivation and post-harvest handling in Indonesia, for they not only devastate the crop in the field and during storage but also have potential capability to be a mycotoxin contaminant in maize-based food or feed. This research aimed to detect mycotoxin-encoding genes from 24 isolates of Fusarium spp. collected from maize kernels harvested in several maize cultivation center areas in Java and one isolate from Lombok Island, using specific primers. These Fusarium spp. had already been molecularly characterized and grouped as four species: F. verticillioides, F. graminearum, F. proliferatum, and F. asiaticum. The results showed that genes encoding fumonisin, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone were detected in F. verticillioides, and genes encoding deoxynivalenol and zearalenone were detected in F. graminearum and F. asiaticum, while those mycotoxin-encoding genes were not detected in F. proliferatum on the basis of the specific primers used in this research. This is a principal study to considerably contribute further research in observing conditions that will be favorable for expression of those genes, in order to better manage maize post-harvest handling to avoid mycotoxin contamination. |
