Effect of temperature and duration of wetness during initial infection periods on disease development, fungal biomass and mycotoxin concentrations on wheat inoculated with single, or combinations of, Fusarium species

Experiments were conducted under controlled environment conditions to study the relationship between environmental conditions, development of fusarium head blight (FHB) and mycotoxin production. A single isolate from each of four Fusarium species (F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. graminearum and F. poae) was used to inoculate wheat ears separately. Combinations of two or three isolates were also used to inoculate ears simultaneously. Inoculated ears were subjected to various combinations of duration of wetness (6-48 h) and temperature (10-30 degrees C). For all inoculations, both incidence of spikelets with FHB symptoms and concentration of mycotoxins generally increased with increasing length of wetness period and temperature. There were significant positive correlations among disease incidence, fungal biomass (quantified as total amount of fungal DNA) and mycotoxins. Mycotoxin production was also greatly enhanced by high temperatures (>= 20 degrees C) during initial infection periods. In single-isolate inoculations, F. poae was the least aggressive. There was no evidence to support synergetic interactions between fungal isolates in causing visual symptoms; rather the results suggest, in most cases, the presence of competitive interactions. Furthermore, the competition led to large reductions in fungal biomass compared to single-isolate inoculations, often > 90% reduction for the weaker isolate(s). In contrast, mycotoxin productivity increased dramatically in the co-inoculations, by as much as 1000 times, suggesting that competition resulted in greater production of trichothecene mycotoxins. The F. graminearum isolate was most competitive and isolates of the other three species were similar in their competitiveness.