Common resistance of wheat to members of the Fusarium graminearum species complex and F-culmorum

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is the most important disease of wheat in Central Europe. Although common resistance of wheat against several Fusarium species has been proposed recently, no data were available for the recently described species/lineages of F. graminearum and F. culmorum. In this study, twenty wheat genotypes were tested under field conditions by spraying inocula of isolates of eight species of the F. graminearum species complex, and three lineages of F. culmorum in 2003-2004. The severity of FHB, Fusarium damaged kernels, yield reduction and deoxynivalenol/nivalenol contamination were measured. F. culmorum isolates were in general more aggressive to wheat than those belonging to the F. graminearum species complex. The various wheat genotypes exhibited similar reactions against the different Fusarium isolates, indicating that resistance to F. graminearum sensu stricto was similar to that for the other species of the F. graminearum species complex examined. This is an important message to breeders as the resistance relates not only to any particular isolate of F. graminearum, but similarly to isolates of other Fusarium species.