Development of a harmonised method for resistance testing and minimisation of alkaloid concentration in rye infested with ergot (Claviceps purpurea)
Funding | CORNET – AiF (+GFPi) |
Duration | 2018 – 2019 (+2020) |
Research partners | JKI-Institut für Pflanzenschutz im Ackerbau und Grünland, Braunschweig, Dr. B. Rodemann Institute of Plant Protection – National Re-search Institute (IPP – NRI), Poznan, Polen: Dr. A. Tratwal AGES-Österreichische Agentur für Gesund-heit und Ernährungssicherung GmbH, Wien, Österreich: M. Oberforster |
Industrial partners | KWS LOCHOW, Bergen: B. Schmiedchen/Dr. J. Eifler/Dr. A. Gordillo; HYBRO Saatzucht GmbH & Co. KG, 17291 Schenkenberg: Dr. J. Fromme DANKO Hodowla Roślin Sp. z o.o, 64-000 Kościan, Poland: Karol Marciniak Saatzucht Edelhof, 3910 Zwettl, Austria: F. Wieser, E. Zechner Polish Seed Trade Association: K. Marciniak GFPi, Bonn: Dr. J. Jacobi |
Team | |
Ergot, caused by Claviceps purpurea, is a serious disease of rye that results in the formation of black-purple sclerotia in the ear. Because of the large number of toxic alkaloids, the EU Commission has set strict limits on the amount of sclerotia in the crop (0.05% for human food, 0.1% for animal feed). However, this property is only a limited indicator of the true toxicity of a batch. The innovative aims of the application are to provide a uniform method for testing the resistance of rye to ergot and to investigate the alkaloid formation as a function of location, year, country (=environment), host genotype and fungal isolate. To this end, several field and greenhouse experiments will be carried out in Germany, Austria and Poland using a standardised design with artificial inoculation, which will allow the importance of flower morphology, pollen shedding, physiological resistance (=genotype), environment and their complex interaction to be determined separately. At harvest, a proportion of the samples will be analysed for the percentage of sclerotia, total alkaloid content using a commercial ELISA, and the content of 12 individual alkaloids using HPLC. An elaborate, methodical experiment will be carried out to determine whether physiological resistance to ergot still exists when the influence of flower morphology and pollen shedding is eliminated. This will give breeders an indication of the relative importance of the different factors they need to take into account in the selection process to obtain resistant varieties. | |