Due to its warm climate, the island of Cyprus suffers from a number of toxin outbreaks. During the last few years major outbreaks were reported with serious effects on human and animal health. The identification and prevention of mycotoxin contamination in agricultural products and in the fields by developing new detection methods and a renewed awareness in both the consumers and the farmers are the general objectives of this proposed project proposal.

The main objectives of the proposed project are:

• the isolation and characterization of agriculturally significant Fusarium phytopathogens from cereals.
• the determination of their ecological fitness characteristics and their sensitivity to fungicides
• the development of biological and molecular techniques for rapid and reliable detection and
• the development of appropriate analytical methods for simultaneous determination of various mycotoxins

This will be the first study to measure the content of mycotoxins in cereals collected from various sites in Cyprus. This is a high impact study as proactive identification and quantification of mycotoxins on the onset of a production cycle could benefit the producers and help prevent the release of dangerous goods to humans and animals contaminated with mycotoxins. This study is even more important for Cyprus and other regions of the Mediterranean due to the prevailing weather conditions that promote the production of mycotoxins on cereals.

Acronym: FuMyCe

Category: Government Projects

Principle: Research & Innovation Foundation

Program: Research in Enterprises