Challenges of Lactobacillus fermentation in combination with acoustic screening for deoxynivalenol and deoxynivalenol conjugates reduction in contaminated wheat-based products

Abstract

This study was dedicated to apply biological treatment using Lactobacillus (LAB) fermentation separately or in combination with an acoustic screening method for the prevention of mycotoxins in Fusarium spp. con-taminated wheat grains. Wheat grain samples of different contamination were treated separately using antimicrobial LAB strains (L. casei, L. plantarum, L. paracasei, and L. uvarum) and the changes on the level of deoxynivalenol (DON) and its conjugates such as 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-ADON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON), and DON-3-D-glucoside (D3G)) were evaluated using UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS and UHPLC Orbitrap-HRMS. Additionally, an acoustic device was used to analyse DON in the wheat raw samples (without treatment). High linear correlations were obtained between HPLC results and the penetrated acoustic signal amplitude (Ap) for DON and D3G (R2 = 0.85 and R2 = 0.82, respectively). The results of fermentation demonstrated that bio-treatment of contaminated wheat was very effective for DON and masked toxin reduction/or elimination from the media. Contaminated wheat grain fermentation using L. uvarum allowed to reduce DON and D3G content in the media up to 75.0% and 84.1%, respective-ly, while DON conjugates (3-ADON, 15-ADON) were completely eliminated. Fusarium spp. contaminated wheat grains demonstrated different enzymatic profiles (amylolytic, xylanolytic, and proteolytic) which could be related with biological degradation of mycotoxins during fermentation. The amylolytic and xylano-lytic activities of fungi correlated well with DON content (R2 = 0.8235, R2 = 0.8694, respectively) as well as with D3G (R2 = 0.9314, R2 = 0.9937, respectively). The findings of this study indicate that bio-treatment of contaminated wheat could efficiently reduce Fusarium mycotoxin levels in wheat grain and improve the sustainability of grain production. The acoustic technique could identify DON as well as D3G contamination in raw wheat grains and is a promising tool in the wheat grain processing chain.