Influence of Fusarium head blight on technological quality of wheat

Abstract Wheat is a cereal of special importance in the world cereal production. Fusarium head blight is one of the most important diseases of wheat caused by phytopathogenic Fusarium species that significantly reduce wheat production. This disease reduces grain yield and quality and causes the presence of harmful mycotoxins. The purpose of this study is to test the effect of Fusarium infection on wheat quality parameters in two wheat varieties Alföld and Mv Karéj. The results showed that Fusarium infection was higher in 2021 (91.47% and 95.20%) compared to 2020 (44.33% and 40.27%) in the two wheat varieties used Alföld and Mv Karéj respectively. In Alföld, Fusarium infection had a negative effect on protein content, test weight, thousand kernel weight, gluten content and Zeleny sedimentation index, whereas falling number was not affected. In Mv Karéj, Fusarium infection had a negative effect on test weight, thousand kernel weight, falling number and Zeleny sedimentation index, whereas protein content and gluten content were not affected. Although Fusarium infection reduced wheat quality, Mv Karéj showed a stable protein and gluten content whereas Alföld showed a stable falling number. Thus, Mv Karéj is more tolerant to Fusarium infection compared to Alföld.