Fusarium spp. on maize in Belgium, from biodiversity to biocontrol
Numerous Fusarium species are important mycotoxin-producing pathogens affecting maize in Belgium. Crop quality is often reduced by Fusarium rot diseases, and mycotoxin contaminations can pose a serious problem for animal health. As several of these mycotoxins are integrated into European legislation, field monitoring and accurate identification of the Fusarium species remain important tasks, allowing relevant preventive or curative measures. Impacts of environmental factors, cultural practices and hybrid selection were analyzed in the frame of an integrated disease management system. Although... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | conferenceObject |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2013 |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28552538 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/128508 |
Numerous Fusarium species are important mycotoxin-producing pathogens affecting maize in Belgium. Crop quality is often reduced by Fusarium rot diseases, and mycotoxin contaminations can pose a serious problem for animal health. As several of these mycotoxins are integrated into European legislation, field monitoring and accurate identification of the Fusarium species remain important tasks, allowing relevant preventive or curative measures. Impacts of environmental factors, cultural practices and hybrid selection were analyzed in the frame of an integrated disease management system. Although climatic conditions are the major factor affecting Fusarium rot diseases, adequate crop rotation with a non-cereal culture and the selection of a less susceptible maize hybrid offered a significant reduction of Fusarium infestation and associated mycotoxin contamination at the end of the growing season. As seedling protection is essential under temperate climate, biologically-based inputs can be used to interfere with damping-off diseases caused by Fusarium species. Therefore, fungal rhizopheric isolates were collected from Belgian maize fields and screenings are in progress for the selection of biological control agents (BCA) of F. avenaceum, F. culmorum and F. temperatum. Such fungal BCA should improve crop health, minimize the economic and environmental costs of controlling plant pathogens and promote sustainable agricultural production.