Sensitivity of Fusarium graminearum to tebuconazole, metconazole, and prothioconazole fungicides

Non-Peer ReviewedTriazole fungicides, along with cultural disease control strategies, has been a useful tool in managing Fusarium head blight (FHB) in the absence of satisfactory levels of FHB resistance in the commercial wheat varieties. Although the triazoles have been used across the world since 1990's for FHB management, there are still very few reports on resistance built-up in the pathogen population. In this study we determined the sensitivity of 254 Fusarium graminearum isolates collected from Western Canada to prothioconazole, metconazole and tebuconazole. Phenotyping for fungicide sensitivity of F. graminearum isolates revealed phenotypic variation in the population for sensitivity to the three fungicides. There was no evidence of cross-resistance between prothioconazole, metconazole and tebuconazole

Fusarium head blight detection, spikelet estimation, and severity assessment in wheat using 3D convolutional neural networks

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most significant diseases affecting wheat and other small grain cereals worldwide. The development of resistant varieties requires the laborious task of field and greenhouse phenotyping. The applications considered in this work are the automated detection of FHB disease symptoms expressed on a wheat plant, the automated estimation of the total number of spikelets and the total number of infected spikelets on a wheat head, and the automated assessment of the FHB severity in infected wheat. The data used to generate the results are 3-dimensional (3D) multispectral point clouds (PC), which are 3D collections of points - each associated with a red, green, blue (RGB), and near-infrared (NIR) measurement. Over 300 wheat plant images were collected using a multispectral 3D scanner, and the labelled UW-MRDC 3D wheat dataset was created. The data was used to develop novel and efficient 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) models for FHB detection, which achieved 100% accuracy. The influence of the multispectral information on performance was evaluated, and our results showed the dominance of the RGB channels over both the NIR and the NIR plus RGB channels combined. Furthermore, novel and efficient 3D CNNs were created to estimate the total number of spikelets and the total number of infected spikelets on a wheat head, and our best models achieved mean absolute errors (MAE) of 1.13 and 1.56, respectively. Moreover, 3D CNN models for FHB severity estimation were created, and our best model achieved 8.6 MAE. A linear regression analysis between the visual FHB severity assessment and the FHB severity predicted by our 3D CNN was performed, and the results showed a significant correlation between the two variables with a 0.0001 P-value and 0.94 R-squared

Identification of Fusarium head blight sources of resistance and associated QTLs in historical and modern Canadian spring wheat

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one the most globally destructive fungal diseases in wheat and other small grains, causing a reduction in grain yield by 10–70%. The present study was conducted in a panel of historical and modern Canadian spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties and lines to identify new sources of FHB resistance and map associated quantitative trait loci (QTLs). We evaluated 249 varieties and lines for reaction to disease incidence, severity, and visual rating index (VRI) in seven environments by artificially spraying a mixture of four Fusarium graminearum isolates. A subset of 198 them were genotyped with the Wheat 90K iSelect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) array. Genome-wide association mapping performed on the overall best linear unbiased estimators (BLUE) computed from all seven environments and the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) RefSeq v2.0 physical map of 26,449 polymorphic SNPs out of the 90K identified sixteen FHB resistance QTLs that individually accounted for 5.7–10.2% of the phenotypic variance. The positions of two of the FHB resistance QTLs overlapped with plant height and flowering time QTLs. Four of the QTLs (QFhb.dms-3B.1, QFhb.dms-5A.5, QFhb.dms-5A.7, and QFhb.dms-6A.4) were simultaneously associated with disease incidence, severity, and VRI, which accounted for 27.0–33.2% of the total phenotypic variance in the combined environments. Three of the QTLs (QFhb.dms-2A.2, QFhb.dms-2D.2, and QFhb.dms-5B.8) were associated with both incidence and VRI and accounted for 20.5–22.1% of the total phenotypic variance. In comparison with the VRI of the checks, we identified four highly resistant and thirty-three moderately resistant lines and varieties. The new FHB sources of resistance and the physical map of the associated QTLs would provide wheat breeders valuable information towards their efforts in developing improved varieties in western Canada

Multi-locus genome-wide association studies reveal the genetic architecture of Fusarium head blight resistance in durum wheat

Durum wheat is more susceptible to Fusarium head blight (FHB) than other types or classes of wheat. The disease is one of the most devastating in wheat; it reduces yield and end-use quality and contaminates the grain with fungal mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). A panel of 265 Canadian and European durum wheat cultivars, as well as breeding and experimental lines, were tested in artificially inoculated field environments (2019–2022, inclusive) and two greenhouse trials (2019 and 2020). The trials were assessed for FHB severity and incidence, visual rating index, Fusarium-damaged kernels, DON accumulation, anthesis or heading date, maturity date, and plant height. In addition, yellow pigment and protein content were analyzed for the 2020 field season. To capture loci underlying FHB resistance and related traits, GWAS was performed using single-locus and several multi-locus models, employing 13,504 SNPs. Thirty-one QTL significantly associated with one or more FHB-related traits were identified, of which nine were consistent across environments and associated with multiple FHB-related traits. Although many of the QTL were identified in regions previously reported to affect FHB, the QTL QFhb-3B.2, associated with FHB severity, incidence, and DON accumulation, appears to be novel. We developed KASP markers for six FHB-associated QTL that were consistently detected across multiple environments and validated them on the Global Durum Panel (GDP). Analysis of allelic diversity and the frequencies of these revealed that the lines in the GDP harbor between zero and six resistance alleles. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the genetic basis of FHB resistance and DON accumulation in durum wheat. Accessions with multiple favorable alleles were identified and will be useful genetic resources to improve FHB resistance in durum breeding programs through marker-assisted recurrent selection and gene stacking

Aplicación de un Programa Psicoterapéutico Infantil y su Relación con las Alteraciones del Sueño, en Niños comprendidos entre las edades de 7 años a 12 años 11 meses, del Asentamiento FENADESAl en la Ciudad de San Martín, Departamento de San Salvador.

El presente trabajo de investigación, se hizo con el propósito de dar en alguna medida atención psicológica a los niños que han sufrido los efectos de la guerra civil en El Salvador, para lo cual se visitaron varios asentamientos y un centro de refugiados, a fin de escoger el lugar donde se desarrollaría la investigación; tomando en cuenta que fuera la comunidad más necesitada y que recibiera menos ayuda; por lo cual después de un estudio para este efecto, se seleccionó el asentamiento Fenadesal de la ciudad de San Martín

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

AAC LeRoy Canada Western Red Spring wheat

AAC LeRoy (BW1049) is a hollow stemmed, awned, high-yielding Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat suited to the growing conditions in western Canada. AAC LeRoy was 10% higher yielding than Unity, the highest yielding check in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative registration trials (2015–2017). Within the same test, AAC LeRoy was 13% higher yielding than Carberry, a popular CWRS wheat variety across the Canadian Prairies. AAC LeRoy matured 2 d earlier than Carberry and 1 d later than Unity, the earliest maturing check suited for eastern prairie growing conditions. AAC LeRoy was 6 cm shorter with better stem strength than Unity. The lodging score for AAC LeRoy was lower than the mean of the checks. The test weight of AAC LeRoy was similar to the mean of the checks. Over the 3 yr of testing (2015–2017), the 1000-kernel weight of AAC LeRoy was higher than all of the checks, with a grain protein content 0.6% units lower than Carberry. AAC LeRoy was rated as moderately resistant to Fusarium head blight (Fusarium graminearum Schwabe), leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Erikss.), stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis Westend.), and stem rust (Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Erikss. & E. Henn), including the Ug99 family of stem rusts. It also had a resistant reaction to loose smut [Ustilago tritici (Pers.) Rostr.] and an intermediately resistant reaction to common bunt [Tilletia caries (DC.) Tul. & C. Tul.]. AAC LeRoy was resistant to orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin). AAC LeRoy was registered under the CWRS market class.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

AAC Hodge Canada Western Red Spring wheat

AAC Hodge (BW1069) is a hollow-stemmed, awned and high yielding Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat cultivar suited to the growing conditions in Western Canada. AAC Hodge was 6% higher yielding than AAC Viewfield, the highest yielding check in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative (CBWC) registration trials (2017-2019). Within the same test, AAC Hodge was 16% higher yielding than Carberry. AAC Hodge matured 1 d earlier than Carberry and 2 d later than Unity; Unity is the earliest maturing check in the eastern prairie growing conditions. AAC Hodge was 7 cm shorter with better lodging resistance than Unity. The lodging score for AAC Hodge was lower than the mean of the checks. The test weight of AAC Hodge was similar to the mean of the checks. Over the 3 yr of testing (2017-2019), the 1000-kernel weight of AAC Hodge was equal to, or higher than all the checks. The grain protein content of AAC Hodge was equal to that of AAC Viewfield. AAC Hodge was rated moderately resistant to Fusarium head blight (FHB; Fusarium graminearum Schwabe) and resistant to leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Erikss.), stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis Westend), stem rust (Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. E. Henn), and common bunt [Tilletia caries (DC) Tul. C. Tul.]. AAC Hodge ranged from resistant to moderately susceptible for its reaction to the Ug99 family of stem rusts. AAC Hodge was resistant to orange wheat blossom midge (OBWM) (Sitodiplosis mosellana Ghin). AAC Hodge was registered under the CWRS class.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

AAC Castle Red Spring Wheat

AAC Castle, an awned hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), cultivar, combines high grain yield and good agronomic characteristics with excellent resistance to leaf, stem, stripe rust, common bunt and loose smut. It also expressed tolerance to the orange wheat blossom midge. Based on 39 station years of data in the registration trials from 2014 to 2016, the grain yield of AAC Castle was about 17% higher than 5700PR but similar to the other checks. AAC Castle was significantly shorter than AAC Foray and CDC Terrain, but had similar lodging resistance and maturity. AAC Castle had higher test weight, protein concentration, falling number and flour yield than AAC Foray and CDC Terrain. AAC Castle is eligible for grade of the Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat market class.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author