“The future will rely on technology to assess Irish grain performance”
Prof. Fiona Doohan from University College Dublin, Ireland, will participate in the World Mycotoxin Forum this year. She will present a talk titled ‘An integrated approach to reducing mycotoxins in Irish cereal grains.’ In this interview, she provides a deeper insight into the current situation in Ireland with regards to mycotoxin contamination and what the future looks like.
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“The main cereal grains grown in Ireland are wheat, barley and oats, they are all prone to Fusarium infections. Barley is used in animal feed and the brewing industry. Oats are mostly used for human consumption and animal feed. Wheat is used for various purposes, while a growing amount is used in human food, a significant portion is used in animal feed. So, wheat, barley and oats are potential sources of mycotoxins in Ireland and go into animal feed, brewing and human food.”
“We are still in the early stages of developing integrated strategies in Ireland. Traditionally we have relied heavily on chemicals to control mycotoxin contamination, but with changes in EU legislation, we have moved away from that approach. In practice, we are focusing on more integrated methods, working with projects such as Mycotox-I which bring together crop science, food science, analytical chemistry and data analytics to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination. It is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). Together, they have funded the project to develop a more integrated holistic strategy, particularly focusing on varieties. For example, oats in the Republic of Ireland, a small number of oat varieties have been grown across the country for the past 30 years. While there has been some change recently, progress has been slow. This limited variety means there is little genetic diversity, which also limits the potential for developing varieties with low toxin levels. The research project aims to take an integrated approach, combining biological, biochemical, and chemical treatments, which are still essential tools, along with host resistance. This approach will also be integrated into a disease forecasting system.”
“A key component of this project is to incorporate and develop a database which Prof. Andrew Parnell is developing using IBM software. This database will integrate soil, weather, varietal, geographic location and mycotoxin data, along with Fusarium diagnostics, PCR diagnostics for the Fusarium species. Prof. Parnell is using machine learning and deep learning techniques to further analyse this data and create an AI-based disease forecasting model. It’s not easy because standardising data from different jurisdictions can be quite challenging, but it’s a valuable learning process. The first 3 years of the project, up until the end of summer 2025, focuses on gathering data. The focus will shift during the latter part of the project to applying Prof. Parnell’s technologies, which has already been successful in the EU project Innovar. Innovar looked at varietal performance across the EU, using similar technologies and a standardised database.”
“I think the main challenges in terms of implementing the integrated strategies, is that while it’s feasible to demonstrate them in a project, the real difficulty lies in bridging the gap going forward. We’ll need to explore models like European Innovation Partnerships to roll these strategies out to the broader farming community. For example, tillage farming is significant in areas including the Southeast of Ireland and is growing, but it is a move away from using traditional chemicals. Also, having the funds to demonstrate the value of the decision, support and the integration management systems to farmers. That is the challenge, the gap beyond the 2026 research, which we aim to fill through partnerships with farmers and farm advisory groups.”
“On the island of Ireland, as with many other regions, there are a lot of microclimatic conditions, which makes it challenging to apply findings from one area to another. Looking ahead, the future will likely involve more satellite technology to assess crop performance. While traditional phenomics has been useful, satellite technology in the past wasn’t granular enough for detailed analysis. We also have projects exploring the microbiome and the interaction between Fusarium and other microbes in the wheat head, as well as how these interactions are influenced by the environment, and their impact on toxin levels. Traditionally, mycotoxins studies focused on a binary approach, examining the relationship between a plant and the pathogen that produces the toxin. While we learned a lot from these studies, we now have the tools to take a more holistic approach. We can examine the microbiome and other microbiota in the system and understand that these are not the only things that are influencing mycotoxin levels. It’s how they interact with other organisms in the environment. I believe this will become increasingly important. Also, EU aspirations towards organic agriculture and the focus on biological systems are becoming increasingly important for the sector’s growth. Understanding how interactions with, for example, the microbiome affects the level of toxins. It’s key to ensure that these interactions don’t negatively impact the microbiome in a way that increases toxin levels in the plant. Once these microbes enter the plant, they interact with many other microbes, there are certainly hundreds if not thousands, in the grain. The nature of these interactions influences the amount of toxin produced. For example, a recent study on oats, which will soon be published, shows that different microbes are present when toxin levels are high compared to when they are low.”
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