Salicornia europaea L. is a euhalophyte increasingly cultivated as a high-value green vegetable. In July 2021, root and crown rot occurred on 6-month-old S. europaea plants grown in peat-filled pots under a greenhouse, affecting 25% of plants. The causal agent was identified as Fusarium pseudograminearum O'Donnell & T. Aoki using morphological and molecular analyses. An experiment to assess the pathogenicity of this fungus to S. europaea was conducted with 96 seedlings in hydroponic culture. Half of these plants were inoculated with a conidial suspension of F. pseudograminearum. At 24 days post inoculation (dpi), half of the plants were transferred into a new hydroponic system, while the other plants were transplanted into pots. At 80 dpi, all inoculated plants grown in pots had shoot browning and desiccation symptoms, while these symptoms developed more slowly in 70% of the hydroponically grown inoculated plants. A qualitative symptom severity assessment scale showed that disease severity was greater (63%) in pot-grown plants than in hydroponically grown plants (46%). Fusarium pseudograminearum was consistently reisolated from diseased plants in both cultivation systems (62% from pots and 83% from hydroponics) fulfilling Koch's postulates. Production of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) was investigated in vitro and in planta. Traces of DON (0.029 +/- 0.012 mg kg(-1)) were found in severely damaged plants grown in hydroponics. In the in vitro test, F. pseudograminearum isolates from wheat crops in Spain (isolate ColPat-351) and Italy (isolate PVS Fu-7) were also assessed, and all tested isolates produced considerable amounts of ZEA. Fusarium pseudograminearum isolates obtained from S. europaea produced more DON (6.81 +/- 0.24 mg kg(-1), on average) than the Italian isolate PVS Fu-7 (0.37 +/- 0.06 mg kg(-1)), while DON production by the Spanish isolate ColPat-351 was less than the limit of detection (< 0.25 mg kg(-1)). This is the first report of root and crown rot caused by F. pseudograminearum on S. europaea.

This study examines the microbiological and mycotoxicological quality of common wheat in Romania in the extremely dry 2023-2024 agricultural year. Common wheat grown in the West Plain, Southern Hilly Area, Transylvania, and northern Moldavia (45-48 degrees N, 21-27 degrees E) had higher moisture content, water activity, Fusarium-damaged kernels, and deoxynivalenol levels. This was due to moderate temperatures, abundant precipitation, and soil water reserves in May, followed by moderate drought from June to August. Conversely, common wheat from the Oltenia Plain, the Southern Plain, and southern Moldavia (43-46 degrees N, 23-28 degrees E) had the lowest contamination levels, attributed to extreme temperatures and drought during June-August. Common wheat from Dobrogea (45 degrees N, 28 degrees E) showed the highest total fungi contamination, which was influenced by precipitation at harvest. Although microbiological and mycotoxicological contamination was low, it negatively affected the physico-chemical and sensory-colorimetric parameters of common wheat, particularly in the West Plain, Oltenia Plain, and Dobrogea. Consequently, there could be significant economic losses for farmers, storekeepers, millers, and bakers, as well as a decline in the quality of finished foods. Moreover, the coexistence of deoxynivalenol and total aflatoxins in common wheat grown in the northwest of the country indicates the spread of contamination due to dry conditions and climate change.