Fig. 3: S. sclerotiorum enhances wheat resistance against Fusarium head blight and stripe rust.

a, b Spikes of wheat plants inoculated with F. graminearum in a greenhouse and under field conditions in 2017; photographs taken at 14 days post inoculation (dpi). Wheat seeds of cultivar Zheng 9023 were inoculated with S. sclerotiorum strains DT-8 and DT-8VF or water (mock) before sowing. c Percent of infected spikelets on F. graminearum-inoculated spikes under greenhouse conditions in 2017, 14 dpi (12 spikes for each treatment) (t-test, p < 0.05) (c; n = 12). d Percent of infected spikelets on F. graminearum-inoculated spikes under natural field conditions in 2017 and 2018. Ten plants from each plot were measured from a total of 30 plants in each treated group, (t-test between the two groups, p < 0.05) (d; n = 3). e DON content in spikelets collected from F. graminearum point-inoculated spikelets 14 days after inoculation. Values on black bars followed by the same letter are not significantly different at p < 0.05 (e; n = 6). f, g Disease index and percent of infected spikelets on spikes from three locations in Hubei province under natural conditions a week before harvest in 2018; 500 spikes were collected from each plot (a total of 1500 spikes from DT-8-treated plots and 1500 spikes from control plots) in each field and then examined (t-test between the two groups, p < 0.01) (f; n = 3) and (g; n = 3). h, i Strain DT-8-treated wheat revealed strong resistance against stripe rust. h Representative images at the anthesis stage of wheat (EZhou Experimental field); i disease index of stripe rust naturally occurred in wheat fields located at EZhou, Hubei province (winter wheat) and Tianzhu, Gansu Province (spring wheat) in 2017. In c–g and i, error bars indicate standard deviation and different letters indicate significant differences.