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Virulence and toxin synthesis of an azole insensitive F usarium culmorum strain in wheat cultivars with different levels of resistance to fusarium head blight
Author(s) -
Serfling A.,
Ordon F.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.928
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-3059
pISSN - 0032-0862
DOI - 10.1111/ppa.12203
Subject(s) - tebuconazole , fusarium culmorum , fungicide , biology , cultivar , fusarium , strain (injury) , horticulture , mycotoxin , inoculation , azole , agronomy , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , antifungal , anatomy
Fusarium culmorum causes head blight, produces toxins and reduces yield and quality of cereals. To prevent damage caused by fusarium head blight ( FHB ), azole fungicides are mainly applied. The occurrence of insensitivity to azoles is a major problem in agriculture. The present study shows that a tebuconazole insensitive strain of F . culmorum can be readily produced in the laboratory, but that the resulting strain of the fungus is of lower fitness in vitro . Insensitivity was confirmed microscopically and by cell viability and metabolic activity. The tebuconazole insensitive strain shows cross insensitivity to nine important azoles. In addition, plants inoculated with the insensitive F . culmorum strain showed no reduction of FHB symptoms and deoxynivalenol ( DON ) content after tebuconazole treatment, compared to an inoculation with the sensitive strain. Use of wheat cultivars carrying a high resistance level (i.e. cv. T oras) was the most effective method for reducing symptoms and decreasing DON content, independent from the level of fungicide insensitivity of the F . culmorum strain. In conclusion, resistant cultivars and a fungicide mixture which combines different mechanisms of action in fungal metabolism should be applied to avoid fungicide insensitivity of F usarium spp. in future.