Natural contamination of oat with group A trichothecene mycotoxins in Poland

Ninety-nine naturally contaminated oat grain samples were collected in 12 plant breeding stations in different parts of Poland. T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) levels were determined by gas chromatography with mass selective detection (GC-MS). HT-2 was the major toxin with an incidence of 24% and its average level in positive samples was 21 microg kg(-1). The incidence of T-2 and DAS was 15 and 12%, and their average levels were 60 and 23 microg kg(-1), respectively. The highest concentrations of HT-2, T-2 and DAS were 47, 703 and 111 microg kg(-1), respectively. Sixty-five samples were free of detectable amounts of the toxic metabolites analysed.