Impact of epoxiconazole on Fusarium head blight control, grain yield and deoxynivalenol accumulation in wheat

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive disease of small grain cereals with Fusarium graminearum as one of the most important causal agents. FHB not only can reduce yield and quality of grains, but also lead to accumulation of mycotoxins in grain, thereby threatening human and animal health. In this study, we observed that epoxiconazole exhibits strong inhibitory effects on both carbendazim-resistant and phenamacril-resistant isolates using mycelial growth inhibition assays. The artificially inoculated field trials further showed that epoxiconazole increased the control efficacy of FHB by being able to control carbendazim-resistant and phenamacril-resistant isolates. Epoxiconazole triggered DON production and Tri5 expression in vitro. However, in addition to increased FHB control efficacy and grain yield, decreased DON levels were measured in field trials after epoxiconazole applications. FHB control, grain yields and DON levels were significantly correlated with each other, suggesting that the visual disease rating can be used as an indicator of grain yields and mycotoxin contamination. Meanwhile, the frequency of carbendazim-resistant alleles in F. graminearum populations was dramatically reduced after epoxiconazole applications. In addition, epoxiconazole seed treatments had no effect on seed germination but phytotoxicity was apparent through growth inhibition of wheat seedlings. Overall, these findings of this study provide useful information for wheat protection programs against toxigenic fungi responsible for FHB and the consequent mycotoxin accumulation in grains.