Assessment of Different Resistance Types of Syrian Durum Wheat Cultivars Towards FHB Agent

Abstract

A B S T R A C TWheat is one of the most important crops in Syria, for both local consumption and export commodity and can be infected by Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) a world-widespread disease. Fusarium Head Blight reduces yield, grain quality and causes accumulation of deoxynivalenol (DON). The most promising and effective management strategy is to avail cultivars resistant to FHB. Ten Syrian durum wheat cultivars and "Simeto", one of the most susceptible Italian cultivars, were artificially infected, under growth chamber and field conditions. They were inoculated with Syrian and Italian strains of Fusarium culmorum, one of the main agents of FHB, to screen their tolerance toward FHB infection, FHB spread, kernel infection and mycotoxin levels. Jory was the most tolerant cultivar in the growth chamber and field, while Sham 9, was the most susceptible.

Journal of Plant Protection Research

“…Overall, the six wheat cultivars expressed acceptable resistance levels to initial fungal infection and fungal spread (Tables 1 and 2). Our data support the view that Syrian wheat cultivars can be promising sources of resistance to FHB under Mediterranean conditions as observed for other wheat cultivars (Talas et al 2011;Purahong et al 2012;Alkadri et al 2015;Hadjout et al 2017) because of lack of 100% resistance to FHB in the current commercial varieties (Mesterhazy et al 2011).…”

“…The selection of FHB species used in our study: F. culmorum (31.3%), F. solani (37.5%), F. verticillioides (25.0%) and F. equiseti (6.3%), was reflective of other populations recovered from the Ghab Plain and other principal Syrian wheat production areas (Alkadri et al 2015;Al-Chaabi et al 2018); F. culmorum was the most frequent causing agent in Syria. In comparison to other Mediterranean regions, i.e., Algeria, Tunisia and other European countries, F. culmorum was found to be the major fungal pathogen associated with FHB (Gargouri-Kammoun et al 2009;Pasquali et al 2016;Touati-Hattab et al 2016).…”

“…Most of them are susceptible and only a few are moderately resistant (Parry et al 1995;Cai et al 2005). Few Mediterranean wheat cultivars with improved levels of resistance have been recognized (Talas et al 2011;Purahong et al 2012;Alkadri et al 2015;Hadjout et al 2017). Till now, the Chinese cultivar Sumai 3 and its derivatives harboring major quantitative trait loci (Fhb1) for Type II resistance have been extensively used in wheat breeding, however, these valuable materials lack complete resistance to FHB (McMullen et al 2012).…”

“…Although Syrian genetically different high-yielding wheat varieties grown under Mediterranean climatic conditions represent a particularly important group of genetic resources (FWD 2007;Achtar et al 2010;Bishaw et al 2011Bishaw et al , 2015, little is known about their susceptibility to FHB agents (Talas et al 2011;Alkadri et al 2015). Indeed, there is still a need to fully investigate pathogenic and varietal differences in Syrian wheat plants tested in growth chambers where all biotic and abiotic factors are strictly controlled (Sakr 2017).…”