Modeling The Effects of Weather on FHB And DON and Developing Robust Strategies to Minimize Losses

Project 1: Robust Integrated Management Guidelines to Minimize Losses due to FHB in Ohio: (1) Evaluate the integrated effects of fungicide and genetic resistance on FHB and DON, with emphasis on different application timings and new genotypes; and (2) conduct a comparative assessment of Prosaro and Caramba for post-anthesis application in FHB and DON integrated management programs Project 2: Influence of Variable Pre-anthesis Rainfall Patterns on FHB and DON in Wheat: Investigate the specific effects of intermittent moisture during the 8-day pre-anthesis window on FHB and DON. Project 3: Fate of Deoxynivalenol in Wheat after Visual Symptom Development: (1) determine and model the effects of temperature and relative humidity on DON accumulation in spikes with known levels of FHB index; and (2) evaluate and model relationships among post-anthesis infection, inoculum density, and DON accumulation, as influenced by temperature and relative humidity. Project 4: Development of Prediction Models for Fusarium Head Blight and Deoxynivalenol: (1) Coordinate the collection of new observations from the IM-CP used in developing and testing future models; (2) Conduct quality checks on the new observations before including them in the expanded dataset; (3) Improve the prediction accuracy of models for FHB and DON by: (i) including predictors from time periods not considered by the current models, and (ii) by using functional data analysis to identify signal locations within the expanded time series; and (4) evaluate the potential value of prediction models as part of the integrated management program for FHB and DON using Bayesian decision theory.