Research into a new, more toxic type of fusarium illustrates the need for scientists to keep on top of ever-changing plant disease issues, says an Agriculture Canada plant researcher.
A team of scientists in Canada and the United States has been studying fusarium graminearum and comparing it with the traditional strain.
The team looked at more than 4,000 samples of wheat, oats, barley and corn from the 2005 to 2007 Canadian harvests.
Kelly Turkington, a plant scientist with Agriculture Canada in Lacombe, Alta., said in a news release that results show plant diseases are not static.
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“They change from within the population itself, or from new pathogens introduced into our cropping system,” he said.
“We need to be vigilant in terms of monitoring our crops, to stay on top of these issues before they hit farmers in the pocketbook.”
The new chemotype, known as 3ADON, is a more potent producer of toxins than the traditional 15ADON found in Western Canada.
The researchers grew infected kernels of fusarium to ascertain which toxins they produced and how much. Results showed that the 3ADON was producing about twice as much of the mycotoxin DON (deoxynivalenol) in a laboratory setting as 15A.
Randall Clear, a mycologist with the Canadian Grain Commission, said that’s important for the industry to know.
“Our grading system is based partly on what level of DON we would expect for the specific levels of fusarium- damaged kernels (FDK),” he said.
“So if the level of FDK or DON is changing up or down, we need to be aware so we can adjust the grading tolerances.”
Slightly more than two-thirds of the samples collected in Manitoba last year were of the 3A type, compared with one-third in Saskatchewan and five to six percent in Alberta. Prince Edward Island is 100 percent 3A.
Turkington said there was no difference between the two types of fusarium in terms of sensitivity to the fungicide tebuconazole, the active ingredient in Folicur.
