Wheat spikes from fields this year will be analyzed to help establish practices that will prevent fusarium graminearum spread
Authorities in Alberta are monitoring the movement of a serial yield robber that has stolen thousands and perhaps millions of dollars from the province’s wheat farmers over the past few years.
Evidence suggests that fusarium graminearum is becoming more common in the province and is affecting cereal crops with increasing regularity, says Alberta Agriculture plant pathologist Michael Harding.
Data suggests the disease is becoming a well-established and persistent disease threat in central and northern grain growing regions, which were previously thought to be at low risk, he added.
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“Fusarium graminearum and fusarium headblight have been kind of rearing their ugly heads more and more in Alberta over the past five years,” Harding said.
“When we did (a similar) survey back in 2010, we found that fus-arium graminearum was mainly established … in the more southern areas of the province but in central and northern areas, we would only see positives on rare occasions and in very low levels.
“Over the past five year’s there’s been some evidence … to indicate that the situation is changing.”
Harding is participating in a two-year survey of wheat fields to learn more about the spread of the disease in Alberta.
Wheat spikes will be collected from close to 1,000 Alberta wheat fields this and again in 2016.
The samples will be sent to Canadian Grain Commission labs, where they will be analyzed for F. graminearum and deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin associated with fusarium.
Harding said results from the two-year survey will provide the Alberta grain industry with a much clearer picture of where fusarium graminearum is established and where specialized management practices should be used.
Recent information derived from the grain commission’s harvest sample program and commercial seed labs suggests fusarium graminearum is affecting growers over a larger area of the province.
Researchers are hoping to collect samples from two percent of the province’s wheat fields and five to 10 percent of corn fields.
The lab analysis will assess grain for the presence of fusarium graminearum and other species of fusarium.
In positive samples, it will also identify the specific F. Gramin-earum chemo type: DON15A or DON3A. First-year results should be available next year.
“We’re looking at probably being able to start commenting on results early in the new year,” Harding said.
“The CGC has an incredible capacity to do this kind of work and to generate lots of information in a fairly short period of time.”
The presence of F. Graminearum is a concern to farmers in Western Canada, but its potential spread in Alberta is especially disconcerting.
Fusarium graminearum is listed as a regulated pest under the Alberta Pest Act.
Commercial grain growers are not prohibited from selling infected grain, but it is illegal to use infected material for the purposes of propagation or reseeding.
Farm groups are examining steps that could be taken to minimize the impact of fusarium graminearum on the province’s agriculture sector.
It is widely assumed that legislative or regulatory changes will be required, although those changes, if they do occur, could take several years to implement.
Kent Erickson, chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission, said fus-arium is becoming a more common problem among the province’s wheat growers.
That’s one of the reasons why the commission agreed to co-fund the survey, along with the Alberta Barley Commission and the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund.
“We’ve been watching maps of fusarium for the past few years now,” Erickson said. “We’ve also had some fairly wet growing seasons in the past three or four years as well so … we really have seen it spread environmentally.
“That’s really the reason for the survey, is so that we can see how the disease is spreading and … try to understand how we can manage it.”
