CONFIRMING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFESTATION OF WINTER WHEAT WITH TILLETIA CARIES AND THE QUANTITY OF FUSARIUM MYCOTOXINS IN HARVESTED GRAIN

The objective of the study was to confirm or to disprove the connection between infestation of winter wheat with Tilletia caries and the quantity of Fusarium toxins in the harvested grain. From 2007 to 2009, small-plot experiments were conducted in Kroměříž. A range of winter wheat varieties were sown, with 26 varieties tested in 2007, 35 varieties tested in the year 2008. In the year 2009 46 winter wheat varieties T. caries-inoculated plus 30 varieties without the T. caries inoculation were tested. The set of varieties included those with varied levels of susceptibility to infestation with Tilletia caries and Fusarium head blight (FHB). The percentage of spikes infested with blight was evaluated symptomatically. The percentage of grains infected with Fusarium spp. was found out using the wet chamber method. The Ridascreen Fast DON immunochemical kit was used in determining the deoxynivalenol (DON) content, the Ridascreen Fast Zearalenon was used for determining zearalenone (ZEA) and the T-2 toxin level was determined using the Ridascreen Fast T-2 toxin (R-Biopharm, Germany). Three-year results showed that there was no correlation between infestation of winter wheat with T. caries and Fusarium spp. (the coefficient of 0.11648). There was no evidence of correlation between blight infection and the DON content (the coefficient of 0.227845), ZEA content (the coefficient of 0.32315) or T-2 (the coefficient of 0.342288). As expected, a close direct relationship was confirmed between the frequency of grains infected with Fusarium spp. and the DON content (the coefficient of 0.71648) and the ZEA content (the coefficient of 0.674679). Any connection between the infestation with Fusarium spp. and the content of T-2 toxin (the coefficient of –0.15401) was not confirmed. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the content of DON and ZEA at different rates of blight infection, between the groups with T. caries infestation rate 0–5% and over 25%