title: Uptake of deoxynivalenol by earthworms from Fusarium-infected wheat straw.
abstract: Conservation tillage combined with crop-residue mulching is increasingly important to meet soil protection targets. Concurrently, the health risk of soil-borne pathogenic fungi like Fusarium species, which produce deoxynivalenol (DON) as their major mycotoxin, is increasing. The detritivorous earthworm species Lumbricus terrestris takes part in the efficient degradation of Fusarium-infected and DON-contaminated wheat straw. Against this background, a laboratory study was conducted to quantify by means of ELISA technique the uptake of DON and its possible absorption and accumulation in tissue by L. terrestris in the short-term (5 weeks) and long-term (11 weeks). The DON concentrations in L. terrestris of the Fusarium-infected treatment were significantly different in the order of gut tissue > body wall > gut content at both dates with a decline in the long-term. The DON concentrations in the tissues decreased by an order of magnitude of weeks to months.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity, Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fishery, Bundesallee 50, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany, stefan.schrader@vti.bund.de.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schrader
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oldenburg
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weinert