Fusarium Head Blight: Current Assessment
Fusarium Head Blight: Current Assessment
The risk of Fusarium head blight (FHB) has increased due to rains that have occurred over the last few days. Large differences in risk can be observed when choosing "Very Susceptible" to "Moderately Resistant" varieties in the FHB Risk Model. For susceptible varieties, a high risk of FHB can be observed across Kentucky, but for moderately-resistant varieties, the FHB risk is mostly low to medium, with a few spots under high risk. Wheat is generally now beyond the time where a fungicide application can be made (several days past early anthesis at this point in time), except for maybe a few exceptions with later-maturing wheat varieties. It will be important to start monitoring for symptoms of FHB in wheat fields over the next few weeks to determine if adjustments to combine fan speeds should be made, which can help blow out the lightweight "tombstone" kernels, which may have the highest levels of deoxynivalenol (DON; "vomitoxin").
Diseases