abstract
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Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is the most serious fungal disease affecting wheat production and other cereal crops in Western Canada and most cropping areas of the world. Producers can lower FHB risk by growing cereals with higher resistance ratings to the disease and with the application of a proper fungicide near the time of anthesis when infection is most likely to occur. Fungicide applications can avoid large losses in terms of yield, grade and mycotoxin infection when weather conditions favor FHB development, the crop is susceptible and Fusarium is present in significant quantities. However, there are years and locations where these conditions are not present and fungicides may be applied without a positive return on investment. This results in a financial loss and unnecessary fungicide applications that affect pathogen selection pressure and the potential risk of developing fungicide-tolerant strains. A weather-based decision management tool has the potential to improve the management of FHB with significant financial benefit. The need for FHB control varies between locations and years depending on weather conditions during the period when the plant is most vulnerable to infection. The objectives of this research project are to develop weather-based models to assess the risk of FHB infection in spring wheat, winter wheat, barley and durum crops with different FHB resistance ratings and to develop an interactive prairie-wide viewer and FHB/DON risk mapping tool that is accessible to producers and industry to assist with fungicide application decisions. In the 2019, 2020 and 2021 growing seasons, there will be 15 locations per year across the three prairie provinces with intensive weather and FHB monitoring to provide data for model development. FHB will also be assessed at 120 producer fields per year to determine if the plot-based risk assessment can be scaled to a field level. The models will provide the engine for a web-based viewer that will ingest weather data from a prairie-wide network of networks and provide FHB risk assessment that is customizable for individual producers (seeding date, variety) and consistent across the 3 prairie provinces.