APS Abstract of Presentation

Multi-state assessment using window pane analysis confirming weather variables related to Fusarium head blight epidemics
A. B. KRISS (1), L. V. Madden (1), P. A. Paul (1)
(1) Ohio State University, OARDC, Wooster, OH, USA
Phytopathology 99:S67

Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat, caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a sporadic disease that is dependent, at least in part, on weather and climatic conditions. The goal of this research was to determine the consistency of the relationship between FHB and environment across multiple locations. Data on FHB were collected, using an ordinal rating scale, for each of 44, 36, 28, and 23 years in Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, and North Dakota, respectively. Weather data were gathered from local weather stations, and summary variables (such as average RH, precipitation, temperature) were calculated for a wide range of time windows and starting times of the windows during the growing season. The windows ranged from 10 to 280 days in duration, beginning around physiological crop maturity and proceeding backwards to the fall of the previous year. Based on Spearman rank correlations, FHB was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with total daily precipitation for all locations, and average daily relative humidity for three of the four locations (with a similar, but non-significant, trend in the fourth location), around the time of heading and flowering for various time windows. However, high correlations found for Ohio at other time periods (e.g., winter dormancy and first node observed), were not found at other locations. There was no significant effect of temperature on FHB for any time window.

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