Fusarium Head Blight

Fusarium ear blight (FEB), is a fungal disease of cereals, including wheat, barley, oats, rye and triticale. FEB is caused by a range of Fusarium fungi, which infects the heads of the crop, reducing grain yield. The disease is often associated with contamination by mycotoxins produced by the fungi already when the crop is growing in the field. The disease can cause severe economic losses as mycotoxin-contaminated grain cannot be sold for food or feed.

A fungal disease, chiefly caused by Fusarium graminearum, that infects the flowering heads of wheat, barley and other small grains, shriveling kernels and contaminating grain with vomitoxin and other mycotoxins that are regulated in food and feed.

For FEB no control measure is completely effective and integrated management involving several control strategies such as preventive measures, disease monitoring and chemical control is necessary.

Resistance breeding involves screening of plant lines subjected to artificial inoculation with Fusarium.