Helpful Resources for Wheat and Barley Scab Prevention

The U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI) is a national multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research consortium whose mission is to enhance food safety and supply by reducing the impact of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB, scab),including the production of mycotoxins for producers, processors, and consumers of wheat and barley.The USWBSI works to share relevant information about Fusarium Head Blight thatgrowers can use to make production decisions, with topics such as FHB risk, fungicide application, and variety selection.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with these resources and decide what you would like to put to use in your own operation.

The FHB Risk Tool is available from April through August during the growing season.

• Provides growers with daily estimates of disease risk for wheat and barley in 35 states.
• Predictions are based on models built using historical weather and disease data.
• Growers can select their variety type (winter vs spring) along with its susceptibility level (susceptible, moderately susceptible, and moderately resistant) to see the current risk by clicking the "bulleted list" square button in the top left corner of the map.
• Maps can also be expanded 2, 4, or 6 days out from the current forecasted weather to view anticipated trends in disease risk.
• If the Risk Tool is not loading on your computer, try disabling your browser's pop-up blocker.

Sign up for FHB Alertsnow to get them all season.

• Sign up to get real time alerts with Fusarium Head Blight updates and field reports provided by state Extension Specialists
• Alerts can be delivered through either email or text message (SMS).
• Customizable:Subscribe to the "National" commentary to receive messages regarding the general overview of the disease. Subscribe to your region to get more local commentaries about what's happening in your region/state.

To select the right fungicide and rate for a scab application, visit Crop Protection Network to view the most up-to-date fungicide efficacy table. Miravis Ace, Prosaro, Prosaro Pro, and Sphaerex all provide very good scab suppression. The Miravis Ace label allows for earlier application than other fungicides, but best results for all fungicides are still achieved when application is timed after full heading in barley and flowering in wheat. If weather conditions prevent fungicide application at ideal timing, an application as soon as conditions allow will still be quite effective in reducing scab and DON production. Follow labels to determine post-harvest interval constraints for the fungicide you choose. Spray nozzles should be angled at 30° down from horizontal, toward the grain heads, using forward- and backward-mounted nozzles or nozzles with a two-directional spray, such as Twinjet nozzles. Additionally, a fungicide treatment at heading using any of these products will also give you excellent control of most leaf diseases as well.