Oats can become infected with Fusarium (fungi) species that can produce toxic compounds named mycotoxins, although there are no visible symptoms. Working closely with University College Dublin in a BBSRC / Science Foundation Ireland initiative, our Applied Mycology Group will help to develop novel and innovative strategies for control pre- and post-harvest.

Oats and oat-based product consumption in the UK and Ireland are increasing as they have beneficial health benefits. Oats can be infected during the critical ripening phase with a pathogen called Fusarium langsethiae, which produces no visible symptoms but contaminates the grain with type A trichothecenes named T-2 and HT-2.

Although there are European Union and UK recommendation on indicative levels of T-2 and HT-2 in oats for human consumption / feed (2013/165/EU), there is no information on how climate change could influence the infection of oats by this pathogen and impacts on mycotoxin contamination.

In close collaboration with University College Dublin, Ireland, via a BBSRC / Science Foundation Ireland initiative, we will examine the potential for identifying cultivars in the UK and Ireland that have better resistance to the pathogen. Also, we will develop effective strategies for controlling contamination by better understanding the effect of present / future climate change scenarios on the pathogen and mycotoxin contamination.

Recent publications

Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Lopez-Prieto A, Jonsdottir IO, Medina A & Magan N (2021) Water and temperature relations of Fusarium langsethiae strains and modelling of growth and T-2 and HT-2 mycotoxin production on oat-based matrices, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 348 (June) Article No. 109203. Dataset/s: >10.17862/cranfield.rd.14473143

Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Lopez-Prieto A, Jonsdottir IO, Medina A & Magan N (2021) Water and temperature relations of Fusarium langsethiae strains and modelling of growth and T-2 and HT-2 mycotoxin production on oat-based matrices, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 348 (June) Article No. 109203. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.14473143

Isidro‐Sánchez J, Cusack KD, Verheecke‐Vaessen C, Kahla A, Bekele W, Doohan F, Magan N & Medina A (2020) Genome‐wide association mapping of Fusarium langsethiae infection and mycotoxin accumulation in oat (Avena sativa L.), Plant Genome, The, 13 (2) Article No. e20023.

Verheecke-Vaessen C, Diez-Gutierrez L, Renaud J, Sumarah M, Medina A & Magan N (2019) Interacting climate change environmental factors effects on Fusarium langsethiae growth, expression of Tri genes and T-2/HT-2 mycotoxin production on oat-based media and in stored oats, Fungal Biology, 123 (8) 618-624. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.8298053