Scab Response of Selected Winter Wheat Cultivars after Inoculation with Fusarium avenaceum (Fr.) Sacc.

Inoculation experiments with 10 winter wheat cultivars were performed in two different regions of Poland, which have different climates, located at Cerekwica (Central-west) and Sitaniec (South-east part of Poland), in the seasons of 1995 and 1996, and Fusarium avenaceum isolate KF 203 (ATCC 64451) (producing moniliformin) was used in inoculation of winter wheat heads. The percentage of scabby kernels was changeable during the experiment, although no interaction environment × cultivar was observed. Yield traits confirm that the climatic conditions in Sitaniec are favourable for higher scab incidence, and indicate that cultivar Aleta was (at both locations) the most resistant to the disease. Reduction of all yield traits for all the cultivars, at two locations, during two vegetative seasons, indicates that cvs Aleta, Almari and Begra were of the lowest susceptibility to scab, whereas Rosa and Parada were the most susceptible to the disease. Accumulation of moniliformin in kernels on average in Sitaniec was 2.28 μg/g during 1995 and 0.41 μg/g in 1996, and in Cerekwica it was 2.12 and 1.77 μg/g in 1995 and 1996, respectively. The results of chemical analysis confirm low susceptibility of cultivar Aleta to scab.