Epiphytic microflora and mycotoxin content in meadows–Is plant biodiversity affecting fungal contamination?

Ecosystem services are an important aspect of grasslands utilization; however, they are often contradictory to their main purpose, which is a production of good quality and safe feed. In this study, we evaluated the difference between grass monocultures and species-rich mixtures in terms of epiphytic microflora and mycotoxin contamination levels. We hypothesized that higher species diversity would lead to higher microbial counts, which could lead to higher mycotoxin contamination risk. Differences in epiphytic fungal, yeast and total amount of microorganisms (CFU g (-1)) depending on the species diversity in the field has been evaluated by cultivation method. Concentration of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was measured by ELISA. Results are suggesting that higher total amount of microorganisms were found in monocultures, however, fungal and yeast counts were higher in species-rich mixtures. Higher species diversity of grasses was related to higher total microbial count (TMC) and yeast colonization of phyllosphere. Our results suggest higher risk of fungal phyllosphere colonization of species-rich mixtures with higher biodiversity and therefore higher risk of mycotoxin contamination of such feed.