*4.3. Aurofusarin–Rubrofusarin*

A pioneer study identified aurofusarin, rubrofusarin, and their derivatives among the pigments [53]. It was concluded that all aurofusarin-producing organisms also have the potential to produce rubrofusarin because the latter pigment is an intermediate of the aurofusarin biosynthetic pathway [54]. This was confirmed in this research, where all samples with aurofusarin contained rubrofusarin. Similar concentrations of aurofusarin in this research were detected as in a study where researchers detected aurofusarin at 10,400–14,0000 μg/kg in Italian samples of durum wheat [54]. Mutants with the absence of the pigment aurofusarin seem to produce an increased amount of ZEN [55]. In contrast, in the current research, samples (Ficko, Pepeljuga, and Mv Karizma in the naturally-infected treatment) with the lowest production of aurofusarin showed the lowest production of ZEN.
