Legumes are amongst the most promising crops to satisfy the increasing demand for protein-rich food and feed. Today, however, their cultivation in Europe is low, while European agriculture faces a deficit of protein-rich feed, of which the largest part is met by imported soybean. It has been suggested that some legumes can at least partially substitute for soybean in different types of feed. Despite their benefits, legumes may also remain a significant concern to human and animal health, especially regarding grain contamination with Fusaria and their mycotoxins. In this study, we determined the species composition of Fusarium field isolates recovered from diseased grains of various legumes. Our results showed that Fusarium avenaceum was mainly responsible for grain deterioration of common vetch, faba bean, and blue lupine. Besides, we found that F. equiseti also appeared to be a major pathogen of common vetch. This study is the first ever to report common vetch as a host for F. tricinctum, F. equiseti, and F. graminearum sensu stricto. Our results indicate that the composition of toxigenic Fusaria associated with grains of legumes is different than that previously observed in cereal grains.
Keywords: Fusarium; blue lupine; common vetch; faba bean; legume plants; qPCR; white lupine.