Evaluation of Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat under high infection pressure in field conditions

Abstract

Resistance of 28 winter wheat cultivars registered in the Czech Republic and ten potential sources of resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB) was evaluated after artificial inoculation with Fusarium culmorum in field trials lasting for three years (2008, 2009, 2010). The data on deoxynivalenol (DON) content were supplemented by symptom scores and determination of% of Fusarium damaged grains and% reductions of grain weight per spike due to infection. The examined traits were significantly interrelated and showed high variation in all years. Significantly lower DON content, combined with relatively lower manifestation of the disease was observed in the modern, commercially grown cultivars Bakfis, Graindor, Sakura and Bodycek (catalogued in the Official Journal of EU), besides Novokrymka 102, PI 166910 (line resistant to dwarf and common bunt) and Arina, which could be effectively used in resistance breeding. However, the experiments performed under high infection pressure were also able to reveal high susceptibility to FHB in some commercially grown wheat cultivars, which may pose a serious threat to wheat production.