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Poster # 105
Poster Title: Evaluating the Impact of Weather Variables on FHB Infection within Virginia Wheat Germplasm
Authors: Moshood A. Bakare 1 and Nicholas Santantonio 1
1. Virginia Tech University, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Blacksburg, Virginia
Corresponding Author: Nicholas Santantonio, nsant@vt.edu
Presenting Author:   Moshood Bakare
Poster Video:



Breeding for resistant lines to scab or fusarium head blight (FHB) is significant in soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, most especially in southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of USA. FHB is a fungal disease caused by Fusarium graminearum which accounted for economic losses annually due to devastating effects on yield and grain quality. The species of Fusarium pathogen that cause scab produce mycotoxins called deoxynivalenol (DON), which is detrimental to living organisms that consume the infected grains. As the FHB infection takes place at flowering, it may be valuable to consider weather variables relative to this time point on an individual genotype basis. Therefore, this study aims (i) to explore how the environmental covariates prior to flowering and during the flowering influence the infection of fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab, and (ii) to determine genetic relationship between agronomy traits and FHB traits, and their impact on agronomic performance.  A linear mixed model was fitted on 3-year scab nursery trials data with 745 lines evaluated across years 2019-2021 for which flowering date data were recorded. We observed variance component of weather covariates similar to main environmental factor in a standard GxE model suggesting relatively few weather variables can capture the trend of G x E across years. The FHB traits typically showed negative effect on agronomic traits indicating breed for FHB resistant wheat lines with minimal negative on yield component is paramount.