Elevated [CO2] compromises both Type I and Type II wheat resistance to Fusarium head blight
M. VAUGHAN (1) (1) USDA ARS, U.S.A.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the world’s most devastating wheat diseases, and results in significant yield loss and contamination of grain with harmful mycotoxins called trichothecenes. Despite emerging risks of increased mycotoxin contamination in food and feed associated with climate change, little is known about how rising [CO2] will influence natural wheat resistance mechanisms against Fusarium graminearum, the primary etiological agent of FHB. In this study the defense response of wheat plants grown at ambient (400 ppm) [CO2] and elevated (800 ppm) [CO2] was evaluated and compared. Both Type I, resistance to initial infection, and Type II, resistance to Fusarium spread throughout the wheat head, were compromised at elevated [CO2]. The increase in disease was accompanied by increased pathogen biomass and trichothecene contamination.

Abstract Number: P16-477
Session Type: Poster