Efficacy of Azoxystrobin on Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Italian Paddy Rice

The efficacy of azoxystrobin was evaluated in the presence of mycotoxigenic\r\nfungi and relative mycotoxins in Italian paddy rice during the growing season in the field.\r\nThree experimental fields were considered and the applied experimental design was a strip plot\r\nwith three replicates; rice samples were collected at four different growing stages. The efficacy of\r\nthe fungicide treatment on rice fungal population was demonstrated with around 20% less total\r\nfungal incidence in sprayed samples compared to untreated ones; the same decrease was noted also\r\nin Fusarium spp. species but not in Aspergillus versicolor. Of the mycotoxins considered, ochratoxin A\r\n(OTA) and aflatoxins (AFBs) were never detected, deoxynivalenol (DON) was found in 46% of samples\r\nat levels always lower than 100 microg/kg, while sterigmatocystin (STC) occurred in all the paddy rice\r\nsamples collected after flowering, with a maximum value of 15.5 microg/kg. Treatment with azoxystrobin\r\nwas not effective in reducing DON contamination, but it had an important and significant effect on\r\nSTC content, showing a decrease of 67% in the sprayed samples.