Survey and evaluation of biocontrol agents to reduce to reduce the impact of Fusarium Head Blight in wheat in Argentina Palazzini J. M., Ramirez ML., Torres A., Chulze S..

PALAZZINI, J.M; RAMIREZ, M.L; TORRES, A.M; CHULZE, S.N

Wagenningen,

Congreso; 9 European Fusarium Seminar,; 2006

Plant Research International (PRI)

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) caused by Gibberella zeae (Schwein) Petch (anamorph = Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe)) is a devastating disease that causes extensive yield and quality losses in wheat in humid and semihumid regions of the world. During the last 50 years, several epidemics of FHB of varying degrees of severity had occurred in Argentina. Besides the economic losses due to reduction in grain quality, the main problem is the potential mycotoxin contamination of wheat mainly with deoxynivalenol. Biological control offers an additional strategy that can be used as part of an integrated management to control FHB. A survey was done to search for potential biocontrol agents  isolated from wheat anther?s in Argentina. A total of 354 bacterial strains were screened for their ability to control F. graminearum growth under different aW and temperature conditions. Among the evaluated strains, 6.2 % were able to reduce F. graminearum growth. These strains were selected to evaluate their ability to control DON production under in vitro and greenhouse conditions. A reduction of ³ 50% was achieved with the strains selected.