Establishment of LC-MS/MS based mycotoxin / Deoxynivalenol (DON) Diagnostic platform for FHB research and breeding program

  • Term: 2 years, beginning in 2017

  • Status: Complete (CLICK HERE for the performance story)

  • Funding Amount: $ 112,746

  • Lead Researcher(s): Randy Kutcher (University of Saskatchewan)

  • Funding Partners: Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture - Agriculture Development Fund (ADF)

Project Description

This project focus on developing and establishing DON and mycotoxin screening capacity to increase the breeding efficiency for improved fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance. This work is supported by the Wheat Flagship at the National Research Council (NRC), as well as Canadian Wheat Alliance partners, and ultimately the community at large.

Apart from reduction in grain yield and quality caused by FHB, mycotoxin contamination in infected grain is another critical issue. Significant DON contamination makes a crop unmarketable and can cause market value losses ranging from 40-65%. Thus, high throughput DON analysis is required to increase breeding efficiency for improved resistance to DON accumulation.

The objective is to develop a high throughput, rapid and accurate DON analysis for FHB breeding programs; to develop an accurate and highly sensitive multi-mycotoxin analysis for FHB resistance research and to apply the DON diagnostic platform on existing FHB research and breeding programs in NRC, AAFC and the U of S. This platform will provide accurate and high-throughput DON phenotyping data, increased efficiency for germplasm selection and accelerated screening process. This research will also provide more precise and useful information on the pathogen population and mycotoxin type distribution in the province.

Variety Development, Pests & Disease, FHBSask Wheat2016-2017, All Projects, Completed Projects