Integrated strategies for Fusarium head blight management in the United States

Optimum management of Fusarium head blight in wheat and barley is best achieved with multiple strategies; a single strategy generally fails during epidemic conditions. Members of the management group of the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative established integrated management studies in 2007, across multiple regions and grain classes, to quantify the value of additive strategies for Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol reduction. Strategies studied were a combination of two or three of the following approaches: variety resistance, fungicides, and crop rotation. Results in the northern plains state of North Dakota indicated that the lowest field severity of Fusarium head blight and the lowest deoxynivalenol, and the highest yields and test weights were achieved with multiple, rather than single management strategies.