| Summary: | Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is one of the most common worldwide wheat and other small grain diseases. The infection is caused by <i>Fusarium graminearum</i> and other related species, which significantly reduce grain yield and contaminate grains with mycotoxins which are harmful for humans and animals. <i>Fusarium</i> pathogen survives the winter well in plant debris left on the field. Weeds around and within crops are alternative hosts of <i>Fusarium</i> fungi when an economically important host plant is not present. This article focuses on the determination of DNA content of <i>Fusarium</i> species (<i>F. graminearum</i> and <i>F. avenaceum</i>) in artificially inoculated wheat plants with isolates from weeds, as well as its influence on the severity of FHB and spring wheat 1000-grain weight under field conditions. Fungal DNA content in grains was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. The results showed that the DNA concentration of <i>F. graminearum</i> was significantly higher in the grain than <i>F. avenaceum</i>. The severity of FHB when wheat heads were inoculated with <i>F. graminearum</i> was significantly higher than with <i>F. avenaceum</i>. All <i>F. graminearum</i> strains statistically significantly reduced the weight of spring wheat grains, while <i>F. avenaceum</i> did not affect the weight of 1000 grain. This investigation has shown that weeds in crop rotations are a potential source of FHB infection. However, the severity of the disease is more affected by the <i>Fusarium</i> species than the host plant. This experiment is, to our knowledge, the first report on the estimation of <i>Fusarium</i> DNA content in artificially inoculated wheat plants with isolates from weeds, as well as its comparison with pathogenicity to wheat and its effect on 1000-grain weight.
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