BIOCONTROL OF FUMONISIN AND OTHER MYCOTOXINS IN CORN AND TALL FESCUE WITH MICROBIAL ENDOPHYTES

The purpose of the proposed research is to define and control the relationship between economically important plants and three diverse fungal groups that produce mycotoxins on corn and forage grasses. One group includes fungi belonging to the Liseola section of the Fusarium, represented by Fusarium verticillioides (synonym=F. moniliforme), the second includes the black-spored Aspergillus species, and the third group consists of obligate grass endophytes of the family Clavicipitaceae, species of Neotyphodium Glenn, Bacon & Hanlin. There are four objectives: 1) To decrease the fumonisin mycotoxin content in corn using biocontrol strategies based on the endophytic bacterium Bacillus mojavensis and soil fungi such as Trichoderma koningii; 2) Define the importance of the fumonisins to corn development and plant or fungus survival, as well as its absorption and translocation in corn; 3) To develop the use of novel Neotyphodium fungal endophytes in tall fescue for specific reduction of cattle toxins, and enhanced forage persistence measured by nematode resistance; and 4) To develop an integrated analysis to determine the extent of the mycotoxin ochratoxin A production by isolates of the lesser known but widely prevalent temperate to tropical species Aspergillus niger and A. carbonarius (the Nigri section) that are endophytic to corn kernels, and to determine any co-endophytic interactions with F. verticillioides and/or the fumonisins produced during corn storage.