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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #291636
Title: Fusarium spp. associated with head blight of wheat in South Africa

Author
item VAN COLLER, G - University Of Stellenbosch
item BOUTIGNY, A-L - University Of Stellenbosch
item ROSE, L - University Of Stellenbosch
item Ward, Todd
item LAMPRECHT, S - University Of Stellenbosch
item VILJOEN, A - University Of Stellenbosch

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/25/2013
Publication Date: 10/25/2013
Citation: Van Coller, G.J., Boutigny, A., Rose, L., Ward, T.J., Lamprecht, S.C., Viljoen, A. 2013. Fusarium spp. associated with head blight of wheat in South Africa [abstract]. International Congress of Plant Pathology.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat is caused by numerous Fusarium species, including trichothecene-producers. In South Africa, FHB is mostly associated with irrigated wheat rotated with maize. Twenty symptomatic wheat heads were collected from four cultivars each in irrigated fields in the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the Bushveld and the Free State during 2008 and 2009, and under dry land conditions in the Western Cape in 2009 and 2012. Fusarium species isolated from kernels were morphologically and molecularly identified and chemotyped. Fifteen Fusarium species were obtained, with F. graminearum species complex (FGSC) the most dominant. Other Fusarium spp. included F. avenaceum, F. brachygibbosum, F. cerealis, F. chlamydosporum, F. culmorum, F. incarnatum-equiseti, F. lunulosporum, F. oxysporum, F. poae, F. pseudograminearum, F. solani, F. tricinctum, an unknown Fusarium species, and the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex. Fusarium pseudograminearum was dominant at one location in the Free State and the Western Cape. The FGSC members identified include F. graminearum s.s., F. boothii, F. meridionale, F. cortaderiae, F. acaciae-mearnsii, and F. brasilicum. The 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol chemotype was most common in 2008 and 2009, the 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol chemotype most common in the Western Cape and at one location in the Free State, and the nivalenol chemotype most common at one site in KZN in 2009. This is the first report of F. brachygibbosum and F. lunulosporum on wheat worldwide, and of F. brachygibbosum in South Africa. This extensive survey of Fusarium species associated with FHB of wheat identified production areas of concern in South Africa regarding mycotoxin contamination.