Phytosanitary status of oats in organic and conventional farming

Dina Atanasova, Vasilina Maneva

Abstract: The study was conducted in 2013 – 2016 at the experimental fields in the Institute of Agriculture - Karnobat with wintering oats cultivars Kaloyan and Kehlibar. Observations have been made on the phytosanitary status of crops in organic and conventional agriculture. The level of weed infestation on winter oats in fields depends on the weather conditions of the year and genotypes of crops - in both conventional and organic farming, the lowest number of weeds per m2 was reported for cultivar Kehlibar as compared to cultivar Kaloyan. In conventional farming over the studied years, on both cultivars was observed infliction with Puccinia coronate var. avenae, and on cultivar Kaloyan the infestation was over 25%, whereas on cultivar Kehlibar it was under 25%. In organic farming on both oats cultivars were reported plants slightly inflicted with Ustilago avenae, which was due to the lack of decontamination of the seeds. The type of farming had a great impact on the disease infestation on winter oats. In organic and conventional farming of oats, the most widely spread type of aphid was Sitobion avenae L.. Schizaphis graminum Rond. was only observed in conventional farming on cultivar Kaloyan. With organically grown oats the aphid population number was lower, probably due to the presence of natural entomophagy, which developed there owing to the existence of more flowering weed vegetation and non-treatment with insecticides.

Keywords: organic and conventional farming; phytosanitary status; wintering oats

Date published: 2019-10-31