Wheat Variety Response to Seed Cleaning and Treatment after Fusarium Head Blight Infection

Abstract

Core Ideas We evaluated wheat stand and yield response to seed cleaning and treatment. Seed was sourced from a season with severe head scab infestation. Seed cleaning increased stand count, yield, and test weight. Varieties responded to seed cleaning differently depending on yield potential. Seed treatment increased grain yield and 1000‐kernel weight. Wheat yield response to seed cleaning and chemical treatment is inconsistent and may reflect the nature of the seed used for sowing. Thus, yield responses might exist after severe incidence of Fusarium head blight (FHB). Our objective was to evaluate seed cleaning and seed treatment effects on three wheat varieties with different levels of tolerance to FHB after a season with severe FHB infection. Field experiments occurred during the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 growing seasons in Manhattan, KS. The treatment structure was a 3 × 3 × 2 complete factorial in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The treatments consisted of three wheat varieties (‘Everest’, moderately tolerant to FHB; and ‘WB Grainfield’ and ‘SY Wolf’, moderately susceptible to FHB), three seed cleaning intensities (gravity table, air screen, and control), and two seed treatments (insecticide + fungicide vs. control). Seed cleaning increased stand count, yield, and test weight. For yield, however, there was a significant variety × seed cleaning interaction: the variety WB Grainfield responded to seed cleaning (∼4.1 Mg ha−1 under the gravity table), whereas the other varieties did not. Seed treatment increased grain yield (+0.3 Mg ha−1) and 1000‐kernel weight. Protein concentration was inversely proportional to grain yield, and Everest had the highest protein concentration (∼13%) in comparison with WB Grainfield and SY Wolf, even when corrected for the same yield level. These results suggest that seed treatment can increase grain yield when using seed from a season with severe FHB infestation, but yield responses to seed cleaning are variety specific.