[The occurrence of zearalenone in domestic grains]

The occurrence of zearalenone had not been tested n Czechoslovakia; out of a number of analytic procedures for the determination of this mycotoxin in grains and some feed mixtures, the method described by Mirocha et al. (1974) was chosen for this study. The tests were performed with 61 samples of grain and 22 samples of other feeds. In barley 58.3% of the samples were positive in the range from 0.19 to 0.82 micromol.kg-1 in wheat 46.4% of samples in the range from 0.19 to 0.57 micromol. kg-1, in maize 6.7% of samples, containing 0.33 mumol.kg-1. Oat samples contained no zearalenone. The positive findings in the samples of the commercial mixtures COS 1, COS 2, SOL and KPB ranged from 0.19 to 0.32 mumol. kg-1. Zearalenone concentrations above 0.32 mumol. kg-1 were found in seven samples of wheat, in four samples of barley, in one sample of maize and in one sample of complete feed mixture for early-weaned piglets. The described method is recommended for screening examination of grains for zearalenone in Czechoslovakia.