Application of capillary gas chromatography to a survey of wheat for five trichothecenes

A previously published method for the determination of deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV) in grains by capillary gas chromatography (GC) with electron-capture detection (ECD) has been modified to include HT-2 toxin (HT-2), T-2 toxin (T-2) and diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS). Recoveries of the five trichothecenes from wheat averaged 71-92% in the range 0.8-4 micrograms/g. Detection or quantitation limits found in two laboratories were from 0.02 to 0.4 micrograms/g, with those for T-2 and DAS at the high end of this range. The method proved of practical use in survey work for the screening and determination of these trichothecenes in wheat from the 1987 western Canadian crop. There were no false positives for HT-2, T-2 and DON in durum and HY-320 wheat. However, interferences precluded the determination of 4- and 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol (MAS) by GC-ECD. The natural occurrence of HT-2 toxin (0.06-0.59 micrograms/g) was demonstrated by GC-ECD and confirmed by GC-mass spectrometry (MS) in 23 samples of durum and HY-320 wheats (1986 and 1987 crops); it was almost always accompanied by DON and in one sample a low concentration of NIV (0-05 micrograms/g). False positives for HT-2 and DAS in red spring wheat detected in 1987 by GC-ECD were 6% (nearly all identified as variety Katepwa) and 8%, respectively. Hence confirmation of suspected HT-2 and DAS by GC-MS is necessary, particularly with red spring wheat.