Content of trichodiene and analysis of fungal volatiles (electronic nose) in wheat and triticale grain naturally infected and inoculated with Fusarium culmorum

Abstract Four groups of cereal kernels were analyzed in terms of their volatile metabolite contents using GC/MS and the electronic nose. Analyses were conducted on 36 triticale breeding lines and 22 wheat breeding lines. Grain came from field samples inoculated with Fusarium culmorum and simultaneous non-inoculated samples—controls. All sample groups contained significantly varied levels of trichodiene (TRICH), a precursor for the formation of fusarium metabolites, with approx. two times higher concentration recorded in triticale. In inoculated samples TRICH concentration for wheat was on average six times higher and for triticale eight times higher than in non-inoculated samples. In the course of analysis using the electronic nose in tested groups of grain differences were observed in the profiles of detected volatile compounds. This resulted in a statistically significant distribution of investigated samples into four objects.