Occurrence of ergot and its alkaloids in winter rye harvested in Poland

Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is a fungal pathogen that infects various grass and small grain cereal species, most often open-pollinated grasses, including rye and triticale. We tested 122 samples of rye grains harvested in three different regions of Poland in 2016 and 2017 for ergot and its alkaloids. Ergot sclerotia were found in all samples. The mean content of ergot sclerotia in grain ranged between 0.74 and 1.06 g/kg, and the mean concentration of ergot alkaloids in grain ranged between 270.1 and 580. 4 μg/kg, depending on the region of cultivation. 37% of the samples were infected with ergot below the 0.5 g/kg level set by the European Commission as the maximum permissible level for ergot, and in those samples the mean ergot alkaloids concentration was 155.8 μg/kg (range 4.7-667.9 μg/kg). A statistically significant correlation (R2=0.6941) between ergot content and concentration of ergot alkaloids was found. Ergot alkaloids concentration in grain was re-calculated into ergot alkaloids concentration in sclerotia, and was found to vary widely from 114 to 3,167 mg/kg. Ergot alkaloids profiles were most frequently dominated by R-configured ergopeptides, such as ergocryptine, ergocornine and ergocristine (31, 29 and 16% of the samples, respectively).