The occurrence of Fusarium varieties and their mycotoxins on silo corn. 1. A method for the determination of zearalenone in corn and corn silage by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection

A method for the determination of zearalenone in maize and maize silage was developed which distinguishes itself by the effective and fast cleaning of the extracts with the help of a silica gel minicolumn. The samples were extracted with chloroform/methanol (9 + 1) and cleaned on a silica gel minicolumn after acid-base partition. The zearalenone was quantitatively determined optionally by means of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (excitation wavelength 236 nm, emission filter 418 nm) or thin-layer chromatography (TLC), p-methoxybenzene diazonium fluoroborate and aluminium chloride were used as detection chemicals. The limits of detection are 0.01 mg/kg (HPLC) and 0.1 mg/kg resp. (TLC), the average recovery is 81%. The method was used for the determination of zearalenone in grain maize, CCM silage and silage from whole maize plants.