Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by Fusarium
graminearum (FG) is a destructive disease
impacting barley worldwide. The disease reduces the
grain yield and contaminates grains with mycotoxins,
such as the trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON). Although
the infection mainly affects the grain yield, little
is known about its impact on grain structural and biochemical
properties. Yet, such information is instrumental
to characterize the facets of resistance in the grains.
After artificial inoculation of six barley cultivars with
FG in a 2 years field test, different levels of symptoms
on spikes, of colonisation of grains and of DON content
were observed. The infections caused a reduction in
grain weight and an average decrease of 10% of the β-
glucan content in grains, indicating alterations of grain
filling, composition and structure. According to our
results, we postulate the presence of two distinct resistance
mechanisms in the grain, tolerance to grain filling
despite infection as well as the inhibition of mycotoxin
accumulation. Differently to wheat, in barley, type IV
resistance (tolerance of the grain to infection) is directly
linked with type III resistance (resistance against kernel
infection). The resistance against toxin accumulation
(named type V resistance in wheat) appeared to be
independent to all other resistance types. Generally, the
resistance was significantly influenced by the environment
and by genotype x environment interactions
explaining the generally weak stability of resistance in
barley. Interestingly, a significant and inverse relationship
between DON contamination and β-glucan content
in grains suggests that high β-glucan content in grains
contributes to type V resistance.