Authors: Lemmens M.¹; Buerstmayr H.²; Krska R.³; Schuhmacher R.³; Grausgruber H.⁴; Ruckenbauer P.²

Source: European Journal of Plant Pathology, Volume 110, Number 3, March 2004 , pp. 299-308(10)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is an important disease of wheat, which can result in the contamination of grains with mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). Artificial inoculation of flowering ears with conidial suspensions is widely used to study FHB diseases. Our goal was to compare four inoculation treatments in which a conidial suspension was sprayed on flowering ears and to study the effect of the application of moisture during kernel setting and filling with a mist-irrigation system. Ten wheat genotypes were inoculated with a DON-producing Fusarium culmorum strain. Inoculation treatments varied in time of application of the inoculum (morning or evening) and in the method of controlling humidity during inoculation (bagging or mist irrigation). A wet season was simulated with a mist-irrigation system, keeping the crop canopy wet for at least 26 days after flowering. The severity of FHB symptoms (area under disease progress curve (AUDPC)), yield loss and DON contamination in the grains were determined. AUDPC data obtained with the different inoculation treatments were highly correlated (r=0.85–0.95). Mist irrigation after inoculation resulted in a higher mean disease severity, but in a overall lower toxin contamination as compared to the non-irrigated treatments. Genotypic differences in DON accumulation were present: for one wheat line toxin contamination significantly increased when irrigated, while two genotypes accumulated significantly less toxin. The closest relationships (r=0.73–0.89) between the visual symptoms and the DON content were obtained under moderate mean infection pressure. This relation between visual symptoms and the DON content deteriorated at higher infection levels.

Keywords: artificial inoculation; Fusarium culmorum; humidity; mycotoxin; scab; Triticum aestivum

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:EJPP.0000019801.89902.2a

Affiliations: 1: Department of Plant Production Biotechnology, Institute for Agrobiotechnology, Konrad Lorenz Street 20, A-3430 Tulln, Austria ), Fax: 43 227266280 203, Email: lemmens@ifa-tulln.ac.at 2: Department of Plant Production Biotechnology, Institute for Agrobiotechnology, Konrad Lorenz Street 20, A-3430 Tulln, Austria 3: Center for Analytical Chemistry, Institute for Agrobiotechnology, Konrad Lorenz Street 20, A-3430 Tulln, Austria 4: Department of Plant Breeding, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Gregor Mendel Street 33, Vienna, Austria

Publication date: 2004-03-01

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