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SESSION 4: GENETICS OF HOSTS – PLANT RESISTANCE TO FUSARIUM,
VARIETY DEVELOPMENT
P84 - Evaluation of German winter wheat cultivars for
resistance against Fusarium head blight and
mycotoxin reduction
B. Rodemann
Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute of plant protection in field crops and grassland, Messeweg 11/12, 38104
Braunschweig, Germany,
E-mail: bernd.rodemann@jki.bund.de
Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe) and
Fusarium culmorum (W.G. Smith) belongs to the most damaging disease in
cereal crops. Both species were described to produce deoxynivalenol (DON) and
DON derivatives and zearalenone depends on the proved isolates. Different
studies revealed significant relations between DON content and characteristics of
FHB infection. However the relationship between disease symptoms and DON
content is not yet well understood in every case. This could be important for
minimizing the risk of mycotoxin contamination of grains and foodstuffs.
For official cultivar disease ranking, the susceptibility of German cultivars and new
breeding lines against FHB was evaluated every year. Under field conditions the
FHB nursery was investigated at six different sites in Germany.
Furthermore, the FHB and AUDPC were calculated using both incidence and
severity. In some cases the DON contamination of the grains was also analyzed.
New registered winter wheat cultivars in 2010 and 2011 showed FHB symptoms
between 5 to 55% assessed 28 days after inoculation.
Investigated grain samples showed DON contents up to 7.4 mg/kg. A strong
correlation coefficient (r=0.74**) was observed between visual disease symptoms
and mycotoxin concentrations. In accordance to this data a ranking for FHB and
DON on a scale from 1-9 (1= low susceptible / low toxin; 9= high susceptible /
high toxin) could be made. By cultivation low fusarium susceptible varieties the
DON contamination could be reduced by 50-70%. The performance of resistance
cultivars in reduction of deoxynivalenol is comparable to the efficacy of fungicides
used for fusarium head blight control.
Keywords: Fusarium, cultivar, resistance, mycotoxins
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