HEAD BLIGHT (FUSARIUM SPP.) ON WHEAT - INVESTIGATIONS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISEASE SYMPTOMS AND MYCOTOXIN CONTENT

The aim of this work was to identify a disease parameter with which th e mycotoxin content in kernels of artificially inoculated wheat genoty pes can be predicted for breeding purposes. In total 108 winter and sp ring wheat genotypes, the resistance of which varied from highly resis tant to very susceptible, were artificially inoculated with a F. culmo rum isolate known to produce large amounts of deoxynivalenol (DON). Se veral held and laboratory parameters were investigated and the data we re correlated with the DON content of the harvested wheat kernels. Cor relation coefficients varied (in absolute values) from 0.33 to 0.81. I t is concluded that for practical breeding purposes visual scores of t he disease on the field (e.g. the area under the disease progress curv e: r = 0.81) or the percentage of bleached kernels in the harvested sa mples (r = 0.76) give a good estimation of the DON content for a reaso nable labour input.