Epiphytic microflora and mycotoxin content in meadows–Is plant biodiversity affecting fungal contamination?

other hand, Venslovas et al. [38] found that DON concentration was negatively correlated with dry matter content of grass silage. Conclusion Due to the current research and legislation focus on food and feed safety, the relationship between agricultural commodities, microbial populations and subsequent mycotoxin contami- nation influences the evaluation of potential health complications in animals. Contaminated animal products can serve as a mycotoxin source in foodstuffs and cause long term health problems. Therefore, our research helps to start a crucial conversation between consumers, farmers and ecologists and establish good practices in diversity conservation as well as forage production. However, there are multiple factors involved in microbial colonization of phyllo- sphere and we cannot unambiguously say that a monocultures or species-rich stands are safer in terms of mycotoxin producers or mycotoxin contamination. Supporting information S1 Dataset. (XLSX) Author Contributions Conceptualization: Ivana Kolackova. Data curation: Petr Kouril. Investigation: Ivana Kolackova, Barbora Smolkova. Methodology: Eva Hrudova. Project administration: Ivana Kolackova. Resources: Jiri Skladanka. Supervision: Jiri Skladanka. Visualization: Ivana Kolackova. Writing – original draft: Ivana Kolackova, Barbora Smolkova. Writing – review & editing: Ivana Kolackova, Eva Hrudova. References 1. Sala OE, Vivanco L, Flombaum P. Grassland Communities and Ecosystems☆. Reference Module in Life Sciences. Elsevier; 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.02201–9

2. Fleury P, Seres C, Dobremez L, Nettier B, Pauthenet Y. “Flowering Meadows”, a result-oriented agri- environmental measure: Technical and value changes in favour of biodiversity. Land Use Policy. 2015; 46: 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.02.007 3. Twarużek M, Dembek R, Pańka D, Soszczyńska E, Zastempowska E, Grajewski J. Evaluation of Cyto- toxicity and Mould Contamination of Selected Plants from Meadows Covered by the Agri-Environmental Program. Toxins. 2019; 11: 228. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins11040228 PMID: 30999701 4. Burkin AA, Kononenko GP. Mycotoxin Contamination of Meadow Grasses in European Russia. Selsko- khozyaistvennaya Biol. 2015; 50: 503–512. https://doi.org/10.15389/agrobiology.2015.4.503eng 5. The European Medicines Agency. Committee for Medicinal Products Veterinary Use (CVMP) Meeting of 14–16 March 2017. Sep 17, 2018. Available: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/committee- medicinal-products-veterinary-use-cvmp-meeting-14-16-march-2017 PLOS ONE Biodiversity and plant fungal contamination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288397 September 14, 2023 9 / 11