Mycotoxins in the legumes of natural fodder of the European Russia

Evaluation of the negative effects of mycotoxins on ruminants and horses is a complex scientific problem and has important economic significance. Mycotoxicoses of animals caused by feeding leguminous grasses have been known for a long time, but their causes remain largely unclear. The purpose of this work was a comparative study of mycotoxin contamination of legumes of the genera Lathyrus, Trifolium, Vicia, Melilotus, Medicago, Galega and Lupinus from the natural fodder lands of the European part of Russia. The collection of ground parts of plants was carried out in May-September 2015 in the Moscow, Tver, Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Astrakhan regions, Perm Krai, and the Republic of Karelia. The mycotoxins determined by enzyme immunoassay were T-2 toxin (T-2), diacetoxycirpenol (DAS), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), fumonisins (FUM), alternariol (AOL), roridin A (POA), aflatoxin B1 (AB1), sterigmatocystin (STE), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), emodin (EMO), ochratoxin A (OA), citrinin (CIT), mycophenolic acid (MPA), PR toxin (PR) and ergot alkaloids (EA). In grasses of the genus Lathyrus (peavines), all the analyzed mycotoxins (with the exception of FUM and ROA) were found in more than 80 % of the samples; for clovers ( Trifolium ), the same frequency was found in T-2, OA, MPA, EA, AOL, CPA and EMO, and in species of the genus Vicia (vetchs), sweetclovers ( Melilotus ) and alfalfa ( Medicago ) there were only EA, AOL, CPA and EMO. A common feature for the genera Lathyrus, Trifolium and Vicia plants were high, > 1000 μg/kg, accumulation of DAS, AOL and CPA, and for peavines and clovers, PR also. Among the peculiarities of meadow clover ( T. pratense L.), we found the ultra-high content of EMO, up to 30 000 μg/kg and more. White clover ( T. repens L.) was characterized by moderate contamination as compared to other species of the genus. Representatives of Vicia, bush vetch ( V. sepium L.) and cow vetch ( V. cracca L.), showed similarities in the frequency of the majority of mycotoxins, but in cow vetch with a smaller occurrence in comparison to bush vetch, especially visible for FUM, the upper limits of the contents of EA, AOL, POA, STE, MPA were higher. Meadow sweetclovers and alfalfa were found to be contaminated less than other grasses, while sweetclovers were close to Vicia in terms of detection frequency and amounts of OA and PR, and alfalfa was low in MPA and relatively high in EMO accumulation. Among other crops less common in meadows, Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl. had the highest mycotoxicological load - of 16 metabolites analyzed, all but FUM and ROA were more than 80 % in frequency. At Caucasian goat’s rue ( Galega orientalis Lam.) and narrow-leaved vetch ( Vicia sativa L.) mycotoxins were detected less often and in smaller quantities. In this study previously published data on mycotoxicological analysis for meadow clover and white clover (A.A. Burkin and G.P. Kononenko, 2015) have been confirmed, but for other legumes the findings are presented for the first time.