Cereal Chem 64:124-128   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Effects of Location and Cultivar on Fusarium Head Blight (Scab) in Wheat from Kansas in 1982 and 1983.

G. R. Love and L. M. Seitz. Copyright 1987 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The occurrence of Fursarium head blight (scab) in wheat cultivars from test plots across Kansas in 1982 and 1983 was measured by assaying for deoxynivalenol (DON, a metabolite of F. graminearum), ergosterol (an index of total fungal invasion), and viable F. graminearum by seed plating. Infection levels were low in 1983 compared to 1982. In both years, locations in eastern, and to a lesser extent in north central, Kansas exhibited higher scab infection than areas to the west and south. Differences in infection levels among some locations were only partially explained by weather parameters, particularly in 1983. Cultivars commonly grown in the midwestern U.S. showed significant and consistent differences in susceptibility to scab infection that were generally not associated with maturity factors. Significantly positive correlations between DON, ergosterol, and viable F. graminearum indicated that F. graminearum was the fungus principally associated with scab and that it consistently produced DON. The ergosterol-to-DON ratio asymptotically approached 2.4 as degree of infection became severe.