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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2018

Abstract

Fusarium head blight and seedling blight, both caused by Fusarium spp. and Microdochium spp., and glume blotch caused by Parastagonospora nodorum, are important diseases in wheat. In Norway, wheat seed lots are routinely analysed for infestation by these pathogens using traditional methods (plating grain on PDA, recording presence or absence of fungal colonies). This method is time consuming, require knowledge within fungal morphology, and do not facilitate identification to species in all cases. Molecular methods such as quantitative PCR (qPCR) could allow detection and quantification of fungal DNA at the species level in a relatively time effective way, particularly since the method allows for automation in different steps such as DNA extraction and pipetting. Whether the latter method is suitable within seed health evaluations will depend on the relationship between the amount of DNA of the different fungal species and field performance, and the purpose of the test (evaluation of planting value, need for seed treatment, survey of fungal species, quality of grain for consumption etc). To compare the two different methods, about 150 spring wheat seed lots from the years 2016-2017 (including two cultivars) were selected for the analysis of different fungi using species-specific qPCR and compared with the results from routine testing on PDA. In the 2016 material (81 samples), a mean seed infestation rate of 26% was observed for Microdochium spp. in the PDA test. The level of Fusarium was lower (mean infestation rate of 5%). A strong relationship was observed between the percentage of seeds infested by Microdochium and the level of Microdochium DNA (sum of DNA from Microdochium majus and Microdochium nivale) quantified by qPCR (R2 of 0.76, p<0.01). The relationship between Fusarium infested seeds and the level of Fusarium DNA (sum of DNA from three species) was moderate (R2 of 0.33, p<0.01). The samples were also analysed for the presence of P. nodorum. Compared to Fusarium and Microdochium, P. nodorum was present at an intermediate level (mean infestation rate of 12%). The relationship between the two different methods was weaker for this fungus (R2 of 0.21, p<0.01) than for Fusarium and Microdochium. The relationship between germination capacity and rating of the three groups of fungi by either method was studied. Preliminary results suggest that of the three fungi, Microdochium was associated with germination capacity in the 2016 material, and that the Microdochium infestation rate on PDA was slightly better correlated to germination capacity than the level of Microdochium DNA. Further results will be presented at the conference, including the association between the relative DNA content of the different Microdochium and Fusarium species and seed germination.