Relationship of deoxynivalenol content in grain, chaff, and straw with Fusarium head blight severity in wheat varieties with various levels of resistance

Abstract

A total of 122 wheat varieties obtained from the Nordic Genetic Resource Center were infected artificially with an aggressive Fusariumasiaticum strain in a field experiment. We calculated the severity of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and determined the deoxynivalenol (DON) content of wheat grain, straw and glumes. We found DON contamination levels to be highest in the glumes, intermediate in the straw, and lowest in the grain in most samples. The DON contamination levels did not increase consistently with increased FHB incidence. The DON levels in the wheat varieties with high FHB resistance were not necessarily low, and those in the wheat varieties with high FHB sensitivity were not necessarily high. We selected 50 wheat genotypes with reduced DON content for future research. This study will be helpful in breeding new wheat varieties with low levels of DON accumulation.

Figure 1

Distribution of deoxynivalenol in grain, glume and straw of wheat with different varieties.

Figure 2

Box plots of the distribution of deoxynivalenol (DON) levels in wheat tissues ((A): grain; (B): straw; (C): glumes) inoculated with Fusarium graminearum at various levels of Fusarium head blight disease severity. Solid and dashed lines indicate medians and means, respectively. The box boundaries indicate the 75% and 25% quartiles. The whisker caps indicate 90th and 10th percentiles and the circles indicate the 95th and 5th percentiles.

Figure 3

Relationship between Fusarium head blight (FHB) severity and deoxynivalenol levels in wheat tissues ((A): grain; (B): straw; (C): glumes). Dashed lines indicate the average FHB severity (59%) and average concentration of DON ((A): 3.78 mg/kg, (B): 14.77 mg/kg, (C): 20.65 mg/kg) in 366 samples (grain samples = 122, straw samples = 122, glume samples = 122).