In the main wheat production area of China (the Huang Huai Plain [HHP]), both Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium asiaticum, the causal agents of Fusarium head blight (FHB), are present. We investigated whether the relative prevalence of F. graminearum and F. asiaticum is related to cropping systems and/or climate factors. A total of 1,844 Fusarium isolates were obtained from 103 fields of two cropping systems: maize–wheat and rice–wheat rotations. To maximize the differences in climatic conditions, isolates were sampled from the north and south HHP regions. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of EF-1α and Tri101 sequences, 1,207 of the 1,844 isolates belonged to F. graminearum, and the remaining 637 isolates belonged to F. asiaticum. The former was predominant in the northern region: 1,022 of the 1,078 Fusarium isolates in the north were F. graminearum. The latter was predominant in the southern region: 581 of the 766 Fusarium isolates belonged to F. asiaticum. Using an analysis based on generalized linear modeling, the relative prevalence of the two species was associated more with climatic conditions than with the cropping system. F. graminearum was associated with drier conditions and cooler conditions during the winter but also with warmer conditions in the infection and grain-colonization period as well as with maize–wheat rotation. The opposite was true for F. asiaticum. Except for the 15-acetyldeoxynvalenol genotype, the trichothecene chemotype composition of F. asiaticum differed between the two cropping systems. The 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol genotype was more prevalent in the maize–wheat rotation, whereas the nivalenol genotype was more prevalent in the rice–wheat rotation. The results also suggested that environmental conditions in the overwintering period appeared to be more important than those in the infection, grain-colonization, and preanthesis sporulation periods in affecting the relative prevalence of F. graminearum and F. asiaticum. More research is needed to study the effect of overwintering conditions on subsequent epidemic in the following spring.

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is an important crop in China owing to its high oil and protein content, with approximately 9.88 million ha of production in 2020. In September 2021, soybean plants showing...

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production in China is challenged by stripe (yellow) rust, powdery mildew, and Fusarium head blight. Airborne inoculum of these pathogens is the causative driver of disease epidemics. Thus, monitoring of airborne inoculum on such fungal diseases is expected to provide some reliable estimations of disease development, especially by targeting multiple diseases simultaneously. This paper reports the development of a new practical qPCR-based method coupled with spore trapping to quantify simultaneously airborne inoculum of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), as well as Fusarium graminearum (Fg) and F. asiaticum and discusses its potential use in disease-risk warnings. The technique can detect DNA of Pst and Bgt at quantities as low as 0.2 pg, and 2 pg for Fg (i.e., representing 0.65 urediniospores, 1.18 conidia, and 10 macroconidia, respectively), and neither T. aestivum DNA nor DNA of other common wheat pathogens were amplified. Linear relationships were produced between the number of spores on tapes determined by qPCR and conventional microscopy, with a small variation (R² value 0.97 to 0.99 depending on pathogen species). The daily concentrations of spores of the three pathogens were monitored using a Burkard 7-day recording spore trap, and the airborne spores were collected from a field near Langfang City, Hebei Province, China. The patterns of spore concentration dynamics in the air determined by triplex qPCR were close to those counted by conventional microscopy in a duplicated subsample. The developed assay can be an alternative to conventional microscopy to process large samples. This will improve monitoring power by providing timely risk warning information to growers regarding the timing of fungicide applications.