Fusarium ear blight is a fungal

Fungus

A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 disease in plants. It is responsible for the most common damaging disease that affects golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

. From an economic stand point, it is one of the major cereal

Cereal

Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

 diseases, being responsible for significant grain yield reduction in wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 and oat

Oat

The common oat is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed...

s. In wheat, Fusarium infects the head (hence the name “Fusarium head blight”) and causes the kernels to shrivel up and become chalky white. Additionally, the fungus can produce mycotoxins that further reduce the quality of the kernel. From 1998-2000 the Midwestern United States

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 suffered $2.7 billion in losses following a Fusarium head blight epidemic. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100401.htm To prevent future epidemics, researchers at the Agricultural Research Service

Agricultural Research Service

The Agricultural Research Service is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture . ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area...

 are working to maintain Fusarium resistant wheat varieties. Researchers are testing the Fusarium head blight resistance in exotic wheat varieties from China, Korea, and Japan. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100401.htm Such research will ensure that the United States wheat variety can be made resistant if the Fusarium fungus overcomes the resistant strains of wheat that are currently being cultivated in America today.

The Fusarium ear blight is due to a Fusarium

Fusarium

Fusarium is a large genus of filamentous fungi widely distributed in soil and in association with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the soil microbial community. Some species produce mycotoxins in cereal crops that can affect human and animal health...

fungus. There are five major species of Fusarium:

• Fusarium avenaceum
  Gibberella avenacea
  Gibberella avenacea is a plant pathogen.- External links :* *...
  
  (Gibberella avenacea)
• Fusarium culmorum
  Fusarium culmorum
  Fusarium culmorum is a plant pathogen and the causal agent of seedling blight, foot rot, ear blight, stalk rot, common root rot and other diseases of cereals, grasses, and a wide variety of monocots and dicots. In coastal dunegrass , F. culmorum is a non-pathogenic symbiont conferring both salt...
  
  
• Fusarium graminearum
  Gibberella zeae
  Gibberella zeae, also known by the name of its anamorph Fusarium graminearum, is a plant pathogen which causes the wheat headblight disease. Fusarium head blight is a devastating disease on wheat and barley. The pathogen is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year...
  
  (Gibberella zeae)
• Fusarium poae
• Microdochium nivale (Monographella nivalis, formerly Fusarium nivale)