EFS12- Book of abstracts - Contact

SESSION 3: PATHOGENESIS – EPIDEMIOLOGY AND POPULATION
GENETICS
P72 - Fusarium spp. on maize in Belgium, from
biodiversity to biocontrol
J. Scauflaire 1 , C. Liénard 1 , M. Gourgue 1 , G. Foucart 2 , M. Mary 2 , F. Renard 2 , A.
Callebaut 3 , F. Munaut 1,4
1 Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Laboratory of Mycology, Croix
du Sud 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; 2 Centre Indépendant de Promotion Fourragère (CIPF),
UCL, Croix du Sud 2/11, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; 3 Centre d'Etude et de Recherches
Vétérinaires et Agrochimiques (CODA-CERVA), Leuvensesteenweg 17, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium;
4 UCL, ELI, Laboratory of Mycology, MUCL, Croix du Sud 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Email: jonathan.scauflaire@uclouvain.be
Numerous Fusarium species are important mycotoxin-producing pathogens affecting maize
in Belgium. Crop quality is often reduced by Fusarium rot diseases, and mycotoxin
contaminations can pose a serious problem for animal health. As several of these
mycotoxins are integrated into European legislation, field monitoring and accurate
identification of the Fusarium species remain important tasks, allowing relevant preventive
or curative measures.
During epidemiological surveys performed in Belgium since 2005 (*), an extensive
collection of more than 7000 Fusarium isolates characterized at the species level was
established at the MUCL collection. A total of 24 different Fusarium species were identified
to occur on maize ears and stalks, of which F. graminearum (43%), F. crookwellense
(16%), F. avenaceum (14%), F. culmorum (10%) and F. temperatum (5%) were the most
abundant. According to pathogenicity tests (and mycotoxin screenings), F. avenaceum
(MON, ENN producer), F. culmorum (3A-DON, NIV, ZEN producer) and F. temperatum
(MON, BEAU, ENN producer) showed the ability to cause seedling malformation and
emergence reduction in early season; while F. graminearum (DON, 15A-DON, ZEN, NIV
producer) and F. crookwellense (NIV, ZEN producer) were always involved in ear or stalk
rot diseases at the end of the growing season, alone or simultaneously.
Impacts of environmental factors, cultural practices and hybrid selection were analyzed in
the frame of an integrated disease management system. Although climatic conditions are
the major factor affecting Fusarium rot diseases, adequate crop rotation with a non-cereal
culture and the selection of a less susceptible maize hybrid offered a significant reduction
of Fusarium infestation and associated mycotoxin contamination at the end of the growing
season.
Biologically-based inputs can be used to interfere with damping-off diseases caused by
Fusarium species. Therefore, fungal rhizopheric isolates were collected from Belgian maize
fields and screenings are in progress for the selection of biological control agents (BCA) of
F. avenaceum, F. culmorum and F. temperatum. Until now, several isolates of genus
Trichoderma, Penicillium and Bionectria demonstrated strong in vitro antagonism against
these damping-off pathogens and were selected for further greenhouse and field tests. In
the context of an integrated disease management system, such fungal BCA should
improve crop health, minimize the economic and environmental costs of controlling plant
pathogens and promote sustainable agricultural production.
(*) Funded by the Service Public de Wallonie, DGARNE, Direction de la Recherche.
Keywords: biocontrol, Fusarium spp., maize, mycotoxins
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