Correlation between Fusarium head blight severity and DON content in triticale as revealed by phenotypic and molecular data

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) in triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack) results in yield losses and mycotoxin contamination, for example, by deoxynivalenol (DON). This study aimed to analyse the correlation between FHB severity and DON content in a DH population of 146 entries across environments. Additionally, Fusarium damaged kernel (FDK) rating, heading stage and plant height were recorded. Highly significant (P < 0.001) genotypic variances were found throughout, but also significant (P < 0.001) genotype–environment interaction variances occurred. Correlation between FHB severity and heading stage or plant height was low (r = 0.144 and r = −0.153, P < 0.10). A prediction of DON content from FHB severity or FDK rating is not possible caused by low correlations (r = 0.315 and 0.572, respectively, P < 0.001). A common quantitative trait locus (QTL) for all FHB‐related traits was found on wheat chromosome 2A being of minor importance for FHB severity, but of high importance for DON content and FDK rating. Another QTL on rye chromosome 5R was more important for FHB severity. In conclusion, DON content has to be measured in triticale after selection for FHB severity to gain for healthy and mycotoxin‐reduced feed.

Comparison of rye, triticale, durum wheat and bread wheat genotypes for Fusarium head blight resistance and deoxynivalenol contamination

“…However, durum wheat had, on average, considerably higher (46% more) DON concentrations than bread wheat although exposing a rather similar mean FHB severity. Hence, the mechanism that regulates FHB severity may be at least partially different from the one that regulates DON accumulation, depending on the cereal species (Draeger et al, ; Miedaner et al, ). The level of DON produced in the kernels of the four cereal crops by isolate FC46 in our study was higher than the DON concentrations reported elsewhere (Arseniuk et al, ; Góral & Ochodzki, ), but similar to the levels reported by Miedaner et al ().…”

“…Though the crop‐specific concentrations caused somewhat higher FHB severity in rye and triticale and somewhat lower FHB severity in the two wheat species, the differences observed in mean values between the two inoculum concentrations were not significantly ( p > .05) different. Different F. culmorum spore concentration levels have been used in different studies to evaluate small‐grain cereal crops for FHB resistance and low mycotoxin accumulation (Arseniuk et al, ; Boeven et al, ; Góral & Ochodzki, ; Góral et al, ; Miedaner et al, ). Our finding, however, demonstrates that a concentration level of 4 × 10 5 spores/ml is adequate for comparing genotypes of these four crop species against FHB infection without being biased to any of the crop species studied.…”

“…In a meta‐study, FDK rating had the strongest average association with DON content ( r = .73, Paul, Lipps, & Madden, ). In triticale, however, a low association ( r = .32, p < .001) between FHB severity and DON concentration was detected (Miedaner, Kalih, Großmann, & Maurer, ).…”

“…Studies have been conducted to separately evaluate rye (Miedaner & Geiger, ), triticale (Boeven, Würschum, Weissmann, Miedaner, & Maurer, ; Miedaner et al, ), durum (Miedaner & Longin, ) and bread wheat (Góral et al, ; Miedaner et al, ) for FHB resistance and mycotoxin accumulation in the grains. Durum wheat was generally described as highly susceptible to FHB infection (Langevin et al, ).…”

Genomics-assisted breeding in minor and pseudo-cereals

“…Notably, very few QTL mapping studies have focused on pseudocereals. For wheat's close relatives, triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye) and progeny populations derived from crossing wheat and its wild relatives have been analyzed with QTL mapping (Dhariwal et al 2018, Kalih et al 2015, Miedaner et al 2016, Wen et al 2018. For example, emmer wheat has been used as a donner of disease resistance, drought resistance, productivity, and grain nutrient to durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp.…”