Effect of timing of fungicide application on the development of Fusarium head blight and the accumulation of deoxynivalenol (DON) in winter wheat grain

Fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab, incited by Fusarium graminearum, can cause significant economic losses in small grain production. Five field experiments were conducted from 2007 to 2009 to determine the effects on FHB and the associated mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) of integrating winter wheat cultivar resistance and fungicide application. Other variables measured were yield and the percentage of Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK). The fungicides prothioconazole + tebuconazole (formulated as Prosaro 421 SC) were applied at the rate of 0.475 liters/ha, or not applied, to three cultivars (experiments 1 to 3) or six cultivars (experiments 4 and 5) differing in their levels of resistance to FHB and DON accumulation. The effect of cultivar on FHB index was highly significant (P < 0.0001) in all five experiments. Under the highest FHB intensity and no fungicide application, the moderately resistant cultivars Harry, Heyne, Roane, and Truman had less severe FHB than the susceptible cultivars 2137, Jagalene, Overley, and Tomahawk (indices of 30 to 46% and 78 to 99%, respectively). Percent fungicide efficacy in reducing index and DON was greater in moderately resistant than in susceptible cultivars. Yield was negatively correlated with index, with FDK, and with DON, whereas index was positively correlated with FDK and with DON, and FDK and DON were positively correlated. Correlation between index and DON, index and FDK, and FDK and DON was stronger in susceptible than in moderately resistant cultivars, whereas the negative correlation between yield and FDK and yield and DON was stronger in moderately resistant than in susceptible cultivars. Overall, the strongest correlation was between index and DON (0.74 ≤ R ≤ 0.88, P ≤ 0.05). The results from this study indicate that fungicide efficacy in reducing FHB and DON was greater in moderately resistant cultivars than in susceptible ones. This shows that integrating cultivar resistance with fungicide application can be an effective strategy for management of FHB and DON in winter wheat.

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Effects of fungicide chemical class, fungicide application timing, and environment on Fusarium head blight in winter wheat

European Journal of Plant Pathology ◽

10.1007/s10658-020-02109-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 158 (3) ◽

pp. 667-679

Author(s):

Carlos Bolanos-Carriel ◽

Stephen N. Wegulo ◽

P. Stephen Baenziger ◽

Deanna Funnell-Harris ◽

Heather E. Hallen-Adams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Head Blight ◽

Application Timing ◽

Fungicide Application ◽

Chemical Class

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Strategies for the chemical control of Fusarium head blight: Effect on yield, alveographic parameters and deoxynivalenol contamination in winter wheat grain

European Journal of Agronomy ◽

10.1016/j.eja.2006.05.001 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 193-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Massimo Blandino ◽

Luca Minelli ◽

Amedeo Reyneri

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Chemical Control ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Head Blight ◽

Effect On Yield

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Composition and Predominance of Fusarium Species Causing Fusarium Head Blight in Winter Wheat Grain Depending on Cultivar Susceptibility and Meteorological Factors

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms8040617 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 617

Author(s):

Tim Birr ◽

Mario Hasler ◽

Joseph-Alexander Verreet ◽

Holger Klink

Keyword(s):

Relative Humidity ◽

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Meteorological Factors ◽

Fusarium Species ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Head Blight ◽

Dna Amount ◽

Cultivar Susceptibility ◽

Dna Amounts

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most important diseases of wheat, causing yield losses and mycotoxin contamination of harvested grain. A complex of different toxigenic Fusarium species is responsible for FHB and the composition and predominance of species within the FHB complex are determined by meteorological and agronomic factors. In this study, grain of three different susceptible winter wheat cultivars from seven locations in northern Germany were analysed within a five-year survey from 2013 to 2017 by quantifying DNA amounts of different species within the Fusarium community as well as deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) concentrations. Several Fusarium species co-occur in wheat grain samples in all years and cultivars. F. graminearum was the most prevalent species, followed by F. culmorum, F. avenaceum and F. poae, while F. tricinctum and F. langsethiae played only a subordinate role in the FHB complex in terms of DNA amounts. In all cultivars, a comparable year-specific quantitative occurrence of the six detected species and mycotoxin concentrations were found, but with decreased DNA amounts and mycotoxin concentrations in the more tolerant cultivars, especially in years with higher disease pressure. In all years, similar percentages of DNA amounts of the six species to the total Fusarium DNA amount of all detected species were found between the three cultivars for each species, with F. graminearum being the most dominant species. Differences in DNA amounts and DON and ZEA concentrations between growing seasons depended mainly on moisture factors during flowering of wheat, while high precipitation and relative humidity were the crucial meteorological factors for infection of wheat grain by Fusarium. Highly positive correlations were found between the meteorological variables precipitation and relative humidity and DNA amounts of F. graminearum, DON and ZEA concentrations during flowering, whereas the corresponding correlations were much weaker several days before (heading) and after flowering (early and late milk stage).

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The effects of fungicides on Fusarium spp. and their associated mycotoxins in naturally infected winter wheat grain

Plant Breeding and Seed Science ◽

10.2478/v10129-011-0035-9 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 123-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Skaidre Suproniene ◽

Audrone Mankeviciene ◽

Irena Gaurilcikiene

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Untreated Control ◽

Field Trials ◽

Fusarium Avenaceum ◽

Research Centre ◽

Single Application ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Head Blight ◽

Fusarium Spp

The effects of fungicides on Fusarium spp. and their associated mycotoxins in naturally infected winter wheat grain Field trials conducted at the Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (central part of Lithuania) in 2009 were aimed to evaluate the effect of fungicides on Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) in a naturally infected field. A single application of dimoxystrobin + epoxiconazole (Swing Gold), prothioconazole (Proline), metconazole (Juventus), tebuconazole (Folicur), prothioconazole + tebuconazole (Prosaro) was applied to winter wheat cv. ‘Zentos’ at the manufacturer's recommended doses at anthesis (BBCH 65). The FHB incidence and severity were assessed at milk and hard maturity stages. The percentage of Fusarium infected grain and deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN) and T-2 toxin (T-2) concentrations in harvested grain were determined. In all fungicide treated plots a significant reduction of FHB incidence and severity was determined; however the fungicides did not exert any effect on the amount of Fusarium-infected grain as compared with the untreated control. A reduction of DON, ZEN and T-2 contents in grain was determined in tebuconazole treatments. Fusarium avenaceum (Fr.) Sacc, F. culmorum (W. G. Sm.) Sacc., F. poae (Peck) Wollenw, F. sporotrichioides Sherb. and F. tricinctum (Corda) Sacc were identified in wheat grain, F. poae was prevalent.

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Relationship Between Visual Estimates of Fusarium Head Blight Intensity and Deoxynivalenol Accumulation in Harvested Wheat Grain: A Meta-Analysis

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-95-1225 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 95 (10) ◽

pp. 1225-1236 ◽

Cited By ~ 118

Author(s):

P. A. Paul ◽

P. E. Lipps ◽

L. V. Madden

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Spring Wheat ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Head Blight ◽

Unpublished Studies ◽

Research Findings ◽

Study Type

The association between Fusarium head blight (FHB) intensity and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation in harvested grain is not fully understood. A quantitative review of research findings was performed to determine if there was a consistent and significant relationship between measures of Fusarium head blight intensity and DON in harvested wheat grain. Results from published and unpublished studies reporting correlations between DON and Fusarium head blight “index” (IND; field or plot-level disease severity), incidence (INC), diseased-head severity (DHS), and Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) were analyzed using meta-analysis to determine the overall magnitude, significance, and precision of these associations. A total of 163 studies was analyzed, with estimated correlation coefficients (r) between -0.58 and 0.99. More than 65% of all r values were >0.50, whereas less that 7% were <0. The overall mean correlation coefficients for all relationships between DON and disease intensity were significantly different from zero (P < 0.001). Based on the analysis of Fisher-transformed r values ( zr values), FDK had the strongest relationship with DON, with a mean r of 0.73, followed by IND (r = 0.62), DHS (r = 0.53), and INC (r = 0.52). The mean difference between pairs of transformed zr values (zd ) was significantly different from zero for all pairwise comparisons, except the comparison between INC and DHS. Transformed correlations were significantly affected by wheat type (spring versus winter wheat), study type (fungicide versus genotype trials), and study location (U.S. spring- and winter-wheat-growing regions, and other wheat-growing regions). The strongest correlations were observed in studies with spring wheat cultivars, in fungicide trials, and in studies conducted in U.S. spring-wheat-growing regions. There were minor effects of magnitude of disease intensity (and indirectly, environment) on the transformed correlations.

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Effect of fungicide application to control Fusarium head blight and 20 Fusarium and Alternaria mycotoxins in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

World Mycotoxin Journal ◽

10.3920/wmj2014.1814 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 499-510 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

V. Scarpino ◽

A. Reyneri ◽

M. Sulyok ◽

R. Krska ◽

M. Blandino

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Fusaric Acid ◽

Growing Season ◽

Fungal Metabolites ◽

Head Blight ◽

Fungicide Application ◽

Cereal Grain ◽

Disease Pressure

Azole fungicides have been reported to be the most effective active substances in the control of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) and in the reduction of the main mycotoxins that occur in cereal grain, such as deoxynivalenol (DON). Four field experiments have been conducted in North West Italy, over a period of 2 growing seasons, in order to evaluate the effect of azole fungicide (prothioconazole) applications on the prevalence of emerging mycotoxins in common winter wheat under naturally-infected field conditions. Wheat samples have been analysed by means of a dilute-and-shoot multi-mycotoxin LC-MS/MS method. Twenty fungal metabolites were detected: enniatins, aurofusarin, moniliformin, equisetin, DON, deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside, culmorin, bikaverin, beauvericin, fumonisins, fusaric acid, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, nivalenol, zearalenone, decalonectrin, butenolide, tentoxin, alternariol and alternariol methyl ether. The most abundant fungal metabolites were DON and culmorin, with an average contamination in the untreated control of 1,360 μg/kg and 875 μg/kg, respectively, in the growing season with the highest disease pressure (2011-2012). On average, the results have shown that the fungicide application significantly reduced the enniatins (from 127 μg/kg to 46 μg/kg), aurofusarin (from 62 μg/kg to 21 μg/kg), moniliformin (from 32 μg/kg to 16 μg/kg), tentoxin (from 5.2 μg/kg to 2.5 μg/kg) and equisetin (from 0.72 μg/kg to 0.06 μg/kg) contents in all the experiments. However, DON, deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside and culmorin were only significantly reduced in the growing season with the highest disease pressure. The other fungal metabolites were mainly found in traces in the untreated plots. These results, which have been obtained in different environmental and agronomic conditions, have underlined for the first time that the fungicide usually applied to control the FHB and DON content, also consistently reduces the main emerging mycotoxins of winter wheat in temperate areas.

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FUSARIUM HEAD BLIGHT AND MYCOTOXIN CONCENTRATIONS IN A MODERATELY RESISTANT WINTER WHEAT CULTIVAR UNDER DIFFERENT NUTRIENT REGIMES

JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURE ◽

10.24297/jaa.v7i3.6337 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 1083-1095

Author(s):

Malgorzata Glosek Sobieraj ◽

Bozena Cwalina-Ambroziak ◽

Agnieszka Waskiewicz ◽

Adam Perczak ◽

Arkadiusz Stepien

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Fusarium Head Blight ◽

High Performance ◽

Fusarium Culmorum ◽

Control Treatment ◽

Wheat Grain ◽

Head Blight ◽

Mineral Fertilization ◽

Infection Index ◽

Fusarium Fungi

Winter wheat cv. Boomer was grown in a field-plot experiment in Tomaszkowo near Olsztyn. During the growing season, the severity of Fusarium head blight (FHB was evaluated on a 5-point scale. The quantitative and qualitative composition of Fusarium fungi colonizing wheat grain was evaluated in a laboratory. The content of Fusarium mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, DON, nivalenol, NIV, zearalenone, ZEA, fumonisins FB1 and FB2) and ergosterol (ERG) in grain was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The relationships between the severity of FHB and mycotoxin concentrations in grain were determined by calculating Pearsonâ€™s correlation coefficient r in the CORR SAS procedure. The effect of microelement fertilizers on the severity of FHB, the species composition of Fusarium fungi colonizing winter wheat grains and mycotoxin concentrations in grain were determined.Analyses of winter wheat spikes revealed that FHB was less severe in 2012 (healthy ears in the NPK+Mn treatment and the lowest value of the infection index 1% was noted in the absolute control treatment) than in 2013 (the most evident symptoms of FHB in the NPK+Nano-Gro treatment â€“ infection index of approx. 12%). Mineral fertilization, i.e. NPK, NPK with microelements (Cu, Zn, Mn) and NPK with the Nano-GroÂ® organic growth stimulator, reduced the production of trichothecenes, ZEA and fumonisins B1 and B2 in both years of the study. The highest levels of DON and NIV were noted in winter wheat grain in 2012 in control, control/NPK, NPK+Cu and NPK+Mn treatments. Toxin-producing fungi: Fusarium culmorum, F. poae, Gibberella avenacea, G. zeae were isolated most frequently from winter wheat grain in the above treatments. The severity of FHB was not significantly correlated with the concentrations of ERG, FB1, FB2 and ZEA in grain. A negative correlation was observed between the severity of FHB vs. DON and NIV levels in grain.

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