Validation and application of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry based method for the assessment of the co-occurrence of mycotoxins in maize silages from dairy farms in NW Spain.

The first objective of this study was the validation of an efficient multi-analyte method for the simultaneous detection and quantification of mycotoxins in maize silage, by reverse-phase liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionisation triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-HESI-MS/MS). A simple liquid/solid extraction was performed either with clean-up on Mycospin 400 columns or without any clean-up. Almost all the target mycotoxins showed highly-suppressed signals in the presence of a matrix, emphasising the need to quantitate mycotoxins by means of matrix-matched calibrations.

Occurrence and stability of masked fumonisins in corn silage samples.

Corn plants contaminated with Fusarium verticilloides were harvested at two dates and ensiled in laboratory silos. The stability of Fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1, FB2) was studied and the effects of inoculant use (Lactobacillus buchneri) and of the ensiling time were assessed. The occurrence of masked fumonisins was also investigated.