Twenty three samples, belonging to 19 corn cultivars with distinct types of germoplasms, endosperm and length of vegetative cycle, were analyzed for fumonisins B1 and B2. The cultivars were grown in experimental fields in three locations (Votuporanga, Ribeirão Preto and Capão Bonito) within the State of São Paulo, Brazil, during the 97/98 crop. All samples were contaminated with fumonisins with concentrations ranging from 1.63 µg/g to 25.69 µg/g with an average of 5.61 µg/g for FB1 and from 0.38 µg/g to 8.60 µg/g with an average of 1.86 µg/g for FB2. In terms of fumonisins, these high levels put the corn cultivated in São Paulo among the most contaminated in the world reported to date.
mycotoxins; fumonisins; Fusarium; corn
