Fusarium tricinctum associated with Head Blight on barley in Argentina: pathogenicity and potential degradation of the different hordein fractions

The objective of the present work was to evaluate the pathogenicity of Fusarium tricinctum in barley and to determine the potential effects on grain quality, more specifically regarding the hordein fractions. For this purpose, Koch´s postulates were carried out to evaluate the pathogenicity of F. tricinctum in barley, under greenhouse conditions. Furthermore, the ability of F. tricinctum to degrade hordeins was tested by a sequential extraction method, and separated by polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Finally, the relative abundance of each hordein fractions (D, C, and B-hordeins) was measured. The results demonstrated that F. tricinctum was pathogenic when barley spikes were inoculated, also showing that F. tricinctum could degrade barley C-hordeins by 21.80% of the total C-hordein content.