Prothioconazole: a new active substance against fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol accumulation in wheat kernels.

Prothioconazole is a new broad spectrum fungicide belonging to the new chemical class of triazolinthiones. It exhibits ideal systemic properties providing protective, curative and long lasting activity. Prothioconazole has been showed to provide an outstanding control of the major fungal diseases in cereals, mainly those caused by Fusarium species. Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is a worldwide disease of wheat caused by various fungi including Microdochium nivale and different Fusarium species (mainly F. graminearum and F. culmorum). It has been shown that the most common contaminant associated with FHB infected grains is deoxynivalenol (DON), a trichothecene mycotoxin primarily produced by F. graminearum and F. culmorum. During the 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 growing seasons, we carried out several field experiments in the North of Italy in order to evaluate the effect of Prothioconazole as a foliar application on FHB development, grain yields and DON accumulation in different cultivars of soft and durum wheat after artificial inoculation with a mixture of F. graminearum and F. culmorum. Treatments at the beginning of anthesis (BBCH 61) significantly reduced both FHB disease severity (up to 70%) and DON content (up to 90%) in the grain as compared to the inoculated control. Yields (tonne/ha) were higher in plots subjected to Prothioconazole treatments. Our findings show that the application of fungicides containing Prothioconazole provides a strong reduction of FHB disease caused by F. graminearum and F. culmorum, allowing an increase in grain yields and a considerable reduction of DON content in wheat kernels.