Written by Charlotte Cunningham
Mycotoxin risk assessment scores can now be calculated automatically, thanks to a new rainfall-related tool from AHDB. CPM reports. Covering thousands of sites across England and Scotland, a new map-based tool from AHDB shows how much rain has fallen during the critical winter wheat flowering time and pre-harvest periods – allowing users to assess mycotoxin risk. “The pathogens that cause head blight are spread by rainfall. If they reach the ear at the right growth stage, they can infect it,” says Dr Dhan Bhandari, who manages grain quality research at AHDB. “Once infected, some of these species produce mycotoxins – so it’s important that they are managed.” Infection risk In winter wheat, the first risk period is during flowering – GS59 (ear completely emerged above flag leaf ligule) to GS69 (flowering complete). As infection occurs via fresh anthers, the duration they are present is critical – this period rarely exceeds 10 days. The second key rainfall risk period is GS87 (hard dough, thumbnail impression held) to harvest. Once the date range is known for each period, this is entered into the AHDB rainfall tool. Then the amount of rain that fell during this time is calculated at each site and…
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