This is an ASBC Research Council funded project webinar. The project was initiated to attempt to address an occasional, but economically important problem, where the malting of grain with low deoxynivalenol (DON) levels results in malts with DON levels higher than those seen in the original grain. This behavior was extensively observed with barley samples from the upper Midwest and Prairie Provinces of Canada harvested in 2016. We have also observed it with several wheat, rye, and triticale research plot samples in 2014-2015. Several maltsters h​ave speculated that the increased DON production during malting of these aberrant samples is a result of “internal Fusarium infection” in grain kernels, as opposed to the normal “external infection”. This hypothesis was supported by the observation with microscopy tools in our research. In addition, the ratios of low DO​N kernels (< 1.0 μg/g) and high DON kernels (> 1.0 μg/g) were investigated in the grain and malt samples. Extremely high DON kernels (>100 μg/g) were observed in these samples. The simulation of early and late infection in the field indicated that early infection and late harvest (after rain) resulted in higher DON levels in grain and malt than that of late infection.

Dr. Jin Zhao​

Dr. Jin Zhao is a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Plant Sciences at North Dakota State University (NDSU). She has a Ph.D. degree in fermentation engineering from Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China. Her doctoral research project was to investigate metabolic proteins associated with the defects of malt quality. Zhao also conducted research on the development of amino acids, organic acids, volatile compounds in the brewing process of rice wine. At NDSU, Zhao’s research mainly focuses on the production of trichothecene mycotoxins in the malting of FHB infected barley, wheat, and rye, and the connection with hyphal distribution in single kernels. In addition, Zhao also has research interests in the development of beany flavor and phenolic acids during the germination of dry beans. Zhao has participated in ten research projects involving fermentation of food and beverage, biochemical analysis, and food safety issues, which results in over 30 publications by far.