Impacts of Wheat Powdery Mildew on Grain Yield & Quality and Its Prevention and Control Methods

Abstract

As one of the major foliar diseases, wheat powdery mildew caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) affects photosynthesis of nutrient organs, such as stems and leaves, causing a reduction in production to varying degrees. In recent years, it has been found that powdery mildew can also affect grain quality, including nutritional quality and processing quality. Powdery mildew can cause changes of grain protein content， its components, starch content and ratio of amylose to amylopectin, and it can also cause changes of grain volume weight, flour falling number and viscosity, extensograph and farinograph parameters, etc. The studies have also found that powdery mildew can increase the expression level of molecular chaperones and enzymes relating to protein synthesis, which led to the rise in protein synthesis. And glycolysis-related proteins also show high expression levels in grains from infected wheat, which implies that glycolysis is very active and further results in the depletion of starch content. These results show that the research on the mechanism of quality change caused by disease has also made some progress.This paper includes five parts: the first part introduces the infection characteristics of wheat powdery mildew. The second part elaborates the change of wheat yield caused by powdery mildew and its influence mechanism. In the third part, the effect of powdery mildew on wheat quality and its molecular mechanism are discussed. The fourth part analyzes the four prevention and control ways from cultivating disease-resistant varieties, strictly controlling the use of fungicides, advocating spraying silicate and biological control. Finally, the last part is a prospect where the effect of wheat powdery mildew on quality and its molecular mechanism and the comprehensive pollution-free control system of wheat powdery mildew are discussed. The paper aims to provide the basis for the research of quality physiology and pollution-free control of wheat powdery mildew.