Assessment of the Sensitivity of some Wheat Cultivars to the Infection of the Head Blight Disease Caused by the Fusarium pseudograminearum in South of Iraq

Abstract

A field study was carried out to determine the susceptibility of eight cultivars of wheat, Ibaa-99, Bohouth-22, Rasheed, Mawaddah, Wafia, Bankal, Jad and Babel, to infection with the fungus Fusarium pseudograminearum. The experiment was conducted in the fields of the Plant Protection Department / College of Agriculture / University of Basrah during the season 2021-2022 to test the sensitivity of eight cultivars of wheat to head blight infection. The Babel cultivar showed the highest severity of the disease, reaching 80%. The Bohouth-22 cultivar showed the highest number of tillers, which amounted to 8 tillers/plant, while the IPA 99 cultivar showed the lowest number of tillers, amounting to 1.3. g/m2. The productivity of the Bohouth-22 cultivar was higher at a rate of 1012 g/m2, while the Babylon cultivar showed the lowest rate of 266.7 g/m2.