Zearalenone stimulating effect

In spite of the fact that contamination of cereals and grains and related products with mycotoxins causes food and feed-bome intoxications in man and livestock, zearalenone in low concentrations can be treated as a plant hormone which influences the development and yield of crop plants (Biesaga-Koscielniak 2001). This review focuses on the effect of low doses of zearalenone on the stimulation of selected physiological processes in plants important for agriculture production. 

Zearalenone was also found to be more effective than cytokinin treatment in inducing shoots in in vitro winter wheat production. Moreover, both zearalenone and cytokinins increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes in wheat callus undergoing regeneration, and it is very likely that they also stimulated the plant regeneration process (Szechynska-Hebda et al. 2007). The effectiveness of regeneration on media containing zearalenone shows the possibility of using zearalenone as an alternative hormone also to cytokinins in winter wheat callus culture. 

The effect of zearalenone on crop development may be connected to its influence on the status and functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus (Koscielniak et al. 2008). The after-effects of zearalenone on the growth of soybean and wheat plants, net photosynthesis and transpiration rates, stomatal conductance, photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2 and on final seeds yield were determined. Modifications in leaf area were more pronounced in soybean than in wheat, and this tendency increases in successive developmental phases. The net photosynthesis was stimulated during the juvenile phase and during that of the final one by about 13.6% (average) in soybean plants. Stimulation of transpiration was also observed after... 

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