This is project is aimed at developing an integrated package of measures to reduce the risk of ergot infection in wheat crops whilst retaining the environmental benefits of grass margins.

The importance of grass field margins as a source of ergot inoculum will be assessed and means of reducing this risk will be explored. These will include low risk’ grass species that are unlikely to act as a source of infection for wheat and margin management regimes that reduce the risk of ergot infection spreading to the crop. The resistance of wheat varieties to ergot will be investigated in order to identify low risk varieties with flowering characteristics that confer escape from infection or with resistance that is effective at a later stage once infection has occurred.

The research will combine monitoring of farm and experimental field margins, artificially inoculated and naturally infected field and glasshouse experiments, spore trapping and epidemiological studies and will use quantitative PCR diagnostics for pathogen detection.The project is led by NIAB and involves a large number of partners. Velcourt R & D will be carrying out experiments to investigate the variation in flowering of a range of varieties and their susceptibility to ergot as well as spore trapping in commercial field margins.