The descriptions of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) are dramatic. "One of the most insidious plant diseases in Canada." "Exasperating complexities rarely seen in any single plant disease." "The most complex and challenging grain disease of the past century."

Canada's wheat and barley growers have heard these messages and are anxious for solutions. Over the past decade, FHB has risen from obscurity to cause losses of over $1 billion in Canada, and growers have been left with no major control options aside from fungicides registered only for emergency use.

The scientists working to find solutions to this disease share farmers' sense of urgency, says Dr. André Comeau, a cereal germplasm development researcher at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ste-Foy, Quebec. While the task of identifying FHB resistance and breeding it into varieties of acceptable quality has proven immensely challenging, genetic detective work by a handful of researchers across the country is uncovering new knowledge that promises to speed up solutions for this perplexing crop disease.

In particular, researchers are ramping-up their work toward "decoding" the complex mechanisms of FHB resistance, says Comeau. "For example, the diverse types of FHB resistance genes interact with environmental factors according to precise rules. Once those rules are understood, we can improve our selection methods, draw more useful conclusions, and get results faster."

More of Comeau's perspective on winning the genetic battle with FHB is available in the February 2004 edition of Western Grains Research Magazine, available on the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) Web site: www.westerngrains.com. Western Canadian wheat and barley growers are major investors in wheat and barley breeding research through the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds, administered by WGRF. The Research Magazine offers "Ideas and issues for farmer research investors."

Comeau's insight provides a portrait of what Canada's grain industry is up against with FHB and the scientific avenues that could lead to ultimate success. "Fusarium Head Blight is a completely new ballgame in terms of challenge," he says. "We have never seen anything like this before.

"Our understanding of the mechanisms of resistance and tolerance of plants to pathogens remains minimal for many major diseases, and for the most part we can get by with that minimal understanding. But with Fusarium, an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of resistance is much more important to our success."

A quantitative genetics approach may be the best way to make major, sustained advances in FHB resistance, says Comeau. This effort is young, but making good progress. Among the latest initiatives are breeding strategies that include the broadest spectrum of available resistance sources.

"These strategies, using valuable knowledge from genomics and other supportive disciplines, will help identify instances of complementary gene behavior and gene inheritance, and increase the odds in favour of stable resistance," says Comeau. "This will accelerate delivery of the results that the consumer, the industry and the farmer need."

Western Grains Research Foundation is funded and directed by Western crop producers, and allocates approximately $5 million annually to research through the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds and a separate $9 million Endowment Fund.