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

Abstract

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).

Mycotoxins in wheat cultivated in the Netherlands: results from eight years of field surveys

“…A Belgian field survey containing 9 years of data from experimental wheat fields showed a much higher effect of agronomic practices: the year accounted for 31% of the total variance in DON contamination, the location within Belgium for 6%, the previous crop for 5% and the wheat variety for 8% (Landschoot et al 2012). The same trend was found in study held in 2009-2013 in Italy (Bertuzzi et al 2014;Covarelli et al 2015;Scala et al 2016), and another one between 2013 and 2017 in Germany (Birr et al 2020).…”

“…In the years 2000 and 2001, in the Netherlands, F. graminearum was the most predominant species responsible for FHB and the production of mycotoxins (Waalwijk et al 2003). This is in line with more recent field surveys, held in Germany (Birr et al 2020), Poland (Bilska et al 2018) and Italy (Covarelli et al 2015). NIV and DON, both type B trichothecenes, are produced by different chemotypes of F. graminearum (Bryła et al 2019;Edwards 2009;Waalwijk et al 2003).…”

“…Edwards (2009) showed a significant relationship between DON and ZEN concentrations in wheat samples collected in the UK in the period 2001-2005 was not perfect. Birr et al (2020) found higher ZEN concentrations in years with high DON concentrations during 5 years of field surveys in Germany. With respect to the presence of DON and NIV in wheat, our results on the lack of correlation between these two toxins are very consistent with previous studies (Edwards 2009;Lindblad et al 2013;Van der Fels-Klerx et al 2012;Vogelgsang et al 2019).…”

Symptoms and pathogens diversity of Corn Fusarium sheath rot in Sichuan Province, China

“…F. graminearum is perhaps the best-known pathogen for causing head blight in wheat and ear and stalk rot in maize 36 , 37 . F. graminearum was detected in ≥ 80% of all Fusarium head blight (FHB) samples, sometimes even 100% 38 . In addition, the frequency of F. graminearum isolated from ears ranged from 30 to 71% with an average of 57%, and from stalks ranged from 43 to 81%, with the average of 65% 39 .…”

Comparative Genomics of Eight Fusarium graminearum Strains with Contrasting Aggressiveness Reveals an Expanded Open Pangenome and Extended Effector Content Signatures

“…F. graminearum has been defined as a member of the F. graminearum species complex (FGSC), comprising at least 16 phylogenetically distinct species found worldwide [6,7]. F. graminearum is the predominant species associated with FHB in North and South America [8][9][10][11][12], in China [13,14] and in most European countries, e.g., France [15][16][17], Germany [18][19][20] and Italy [21][22][23].…”