Wheat fusarium: a description of the ear disease, symptoms and how to properly treat

Cereals are one of the most important sources of food for the existence of mankind. They have existed for thousands of years, and all this time people are fighting not only for the harvest, but also struggling with numerous diseases that threaten to destroy crops. One of these dangerous diseases is wheat fusarium, which can cause serious harm to agriculture.

Description of disease

Fusariosis affects all types of grain crops that form ears. A week (10 days) after infection, a mass of pinkish-orange conidia forms on the infected parts of the ear.These are immobile spores during asexual reproduction of fungi. Affected grains accumulate toxic waste products that poison wheat and wheat-derived flour, pasta, baked goods, and more. When eaten, these grains and products made from them provoke nausea, vomiting and lead to damage to the central nervous system.

Fusariosis spreads especially vigorously in those years when the weather is warm and humid during the formation and pouring of the ear. In such a situation, fungi actively spread, making 20 to 50 percent of the crop unusable. Due to the sad statistics, the fight against fusarium ear of wheat is becoming one of the most important tasks in agriculture.

Causes of wheat fusarium

Fusariosis is a fungal infection that affects various plants, including cereals. The disease of the roots, stem, ear and grain is provoked by fungi from the genus Fusarium.They not only affect crops, but are also capable of producing mycotoxins - special substances that occur during the vital activity of fungi that penetrate plant tissues and grain in particular.

Fusarial toxins make not only the grain itself, but also the products obtained during its processing unsuitable for human and animal consumption. And this means that the grown crop not only cannot be used for food or livestock feed, but also can cause serious harm to he alth.

Influencing factors

The occurrence and development of the disease can have different reasons:

1. Infected seeds obtained from diseased plants and not treated during storage and sowing.
2. The soil in which Fusarium-causing fungi settled.
3. Infected remains of weeds and useful vegetation not harvested after harvest.
4. Carrion.

The main source of infection is plant residues not removed from the field, or insufficiently well-cleaned soil. Fusarium outbreaks are especially serious and dangerous when wheat is sown on fields previously planted with corn or other cereals affected by this disease.

Also provokes a dangerous infection of snow mold, which affects winter crops with frequent changes of thaws and frosts. But the main cause of the disease still remains diseased seed material. Fusarium of wheat ear causes the death of crops, so preventive, protective and therapeutic measures come to the fore.

Symptoms of disease

The main signs of ear damage are as follows:

1. Formation of a specific orange-pink coloration on the outer scales of spikelets. This is a sign of mycelium and spore development.
2. Following on the ear appear spores of fungi, painted in light pink.
3. A characteristic pattern appears on the scales of spikelets in the form of spots resembling eyes.

The danger of damage to the grain of a weak degree is that in this case the fungal mycelium is located inside the shells. Outwardly, such a lesion is imperceptible, so the grain seems he althy and of high quality, but in fact it is dangerous for the he alth of people, farm and domestic animals.

For a more serious infection, the fungus penetrates deep, down to the core of the seed. This becomes noticeable because the diseased grain is feeble, weighs less than he althy, has a deeply depressed furrow and pointed edges. Most often, such grains are distinguished by a wrinkled surface, sometimes colored in pinkish hues.

How to properly treat crops

The danger of Fusarium of grain crops lies in the fact that pre-sowing treatment of seed material with fungicides is not a highly effective measure. This method helps to cope with Fusarium, which affects young plants and seedlings, but does not have a curative effect on Fusarium ear of wheat and other cereals.

This is due to the fact that this type of Fusarium lesion develops on the emerging spike in warm and humid weather. Sprinkling fields during this time can be unprofitable and pointless.Firstly, the area under crops will require huge processing costs, and secondly, wet weather with precipitation will nullify all costly efforts.

Therefore, the preparation of plots for sowing comes to the fore. To do this, it is necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation, select suitable crops, not alternating cereals with cereals, as well as with plants susceptible to Fusarium infection.

You can not use for crops the grain affected by the fungus, even if outwardly it looks normal and he althy, therefore, before planting, it is necessary to take samples of the seed material for analysis in the laboratory. If traces of mycotoxins are found, the entire shipment of grain will have to be destroyed.

Possible consequences

Micromycetes - microscopic fungi, which include representatives of the genus Fusarium, secrete mycotoxins. These substances are toxic to humans and animals. When the crop is severely affected by Fusarium, mycotoxins enter the grain and flour, causing the following effects:

1. Reducing the quality of baked goods.
2. Changing the color and texture of pasta.
3. The effect of spouting in beer.
4. Reduced quality and nutritional value of human and animal feed due to Fusarium mycotoxins.
5. Poisoning of people and animals that have eaten food contaminated with fungi.
6. Decreased germination of infected seeds.

If you allow wheat ear Fusarium to spread, do not treat plantings, do not remove the remains of infected plants, and even sow cereal crops in the same place next year, you can lose almost the entire crop. It is necessary to take measures at the first signs of infection, and even better, prevent diseases using preventive measures.

By making serious miscalculations, you can completely destroy the crop, deprive the agricultural enterprise of possible profit, even bring it to ruin.When infected grain is used for future crops, new areas are infected that are still free from a fungal disease. This leads to the spread of fusariosis of the ear of wheat.

Prevention

The most effective preventive measures to prevent the emergence and spread of Fusarium head blight of wheat include the following actions:

1. Quality tillage.
2. Maximum removal of remnants of affected vegetation.
3. Plowing the remaining plant parts into the ground. In the soil, they will decompose faster, and the fungus will have less opportunity to develop and spread.
4. Compliance with crop rotation. It is important to choose the right cultures correctly, which will prevent the active spread of infection. If corn and cereals are sown after wheat, this will serve as a "feed" for the development of fungal infections and lead to a massive outbreak of Fusarium ear of wheat and other cereals.
5. Beetroot should not be used as a precursor for wheat - it also contributes to the spread of the disease.

The best method of prevention is the use of wheat varieties that are resistant to head blight. Unfortunately, there are not enough such varieties yet. Durum wheat varieties, most in demand in the production of pasta, are very sensitive to the influence of the disease.

Among soft varieties, there are relatively resistant to Fusarium, but most of them are severely affected by the disease. Therefore, the main goal of preventing a fungal infection is the breeding of varieties with maximum resistance to Fusarium head blight of cereals by breeders.

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