fusarium infected wheat head

Fungicide, glyphosate don’t hurt your hard red wheat quality

In terms of grain quality, this University of Manitoba-led research finds weather and variety matter most

The results of this study may not seem all that surprising: everyone expected weather and genotype to be the most impactful factors on wheat quality. But this research hadn’t been done before, so it offers up the good news that fungicides and glyphosate aren’t making things worse.



Fusarium head blight symptoms in wheat. The key target for fungicidal treatments will always be the head tissue.

Managing against fusarium takes a multi-part strategy

Tweaking fungicide timing could provide farmers with better control

Kelly Turkington, a longtime plant pathologist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, strongly supports the notion that an integrated approach to managing fusarium head blight (FHB) offers the best chance of success for cereal producers. Even so, Turkington says, in much of Manitoba and northeastern Saskatchewan, that strategy hasn’t always worked as well as […] Read more

fusarium head blight in wheat

More than one way to fight fusarium head blight

An integrated approach, using multiple best practices, can offer better chances of success

Fusarium head blight has been a stubborn threat to cereal crops in Western Canada since the 1990s. Some years are worse than others, but when the conditions favour this fungal pathogen, fusarium can cause significant losses in yield and crop quality in wheat, barley, oats and corn. The two primary weapons against fusarium — fungicides […] Read more


University of Alberta researcher Ehsan Feizollahi helped test the use of cold plasma to decontaminate grains.

Plasma shows promise against fusarium-formed toxins

The fourth state of matter could someday be put to work at a malt house or feedlot near you

Researchers at the University of Alberta are harnessing a high-tech concept to decontaminate grain. They’re using cold plasma, which is created by electrical discharge in a low-pressure gas. One of the most common uses is in fluorescent lighting, which creates light with little heat. Cold plasma is the fourth state of matter, alongside solid, liquid […] Read more

This map from PrairieFHB.ca shows the FHB risk level for the CPSR wheat variety AAC Penhold, as of May 15. The higher-altitude Prairie-wide map was pretty green (low risk) so we’ve zoomed in here on the Medicine Hat and Lethbridge area of southern Alberta. Yellow denotes “moderate” risk; red denotes “high” risk, while black (not shown) would denote “very high.”

Maps now mark the spots for fusarium risk

Prairie-wide, variety-specific FHB risk maps now available online

Wheat, barley and durum growers in all three Prairie provinces can now check online whether fusarium head blight may be coming soon to a field near them. We’ve written before in these pages about the development and expected launch of new Prairie-wide fusarium head blight (FHB) risk maps — which have now gone live online […] Read more


U of M professor Paul Bullock checks data from a portable weather station during development of the FHB risk assessment tool.

Online fusarium management tool due out this spring

Preliminary tests of the online tool showed a good level of accuracy

A follow-up to a story we first brought you last July about a new online tool being developed by soil scientists at the University of Manitoba to make fusarium head blight (FHB) risk management in cereal crops easier for Prairie farmers. Paul Bullock, a senior scholar with the U of M’s department of soil science, […] Read more

The spray window for fusarium head blight in wheat may only be a few days, so timing is critical.

Four tips for FHB spray applications in wheat

To prevent outbreaks consider spray preparation, double nozzles, coarser sprays and lower booms

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most destructive wheat diseases in Western Canada, affecting the yield, grade and end-use quality of infected crops. Fungicides can be very effective in preventing FHB outbreaks, as long as they’re applied on time and sprayed the right way. Tom Wolf, a sprayer expert and scientist at Agrimetrix […] Read more


A healthy wheat head at left and one with severe symptoms of fusarium head blight at right. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Alberta deregulates fusarium

Crop disease comes off province's 'zero tolerance' list

Alberta is moving to keep fusarium in check by means other than the “zero tolerance” policy it has in effect on agricultural pests such as rats, rabies and clubroot. Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen announced a ministerial order Wednesday to remove Fusarium graminearum from the list of pests covered by the Pest and Nuisance Control Regulation, […] Read more