The Sustainable Approach of Using the Variety Diversity of the Hulled and Naked Forms of Cultivated Oat (Avena sativa L.)

This study has as its objective the use of Avena spp. germplasm in obtaining genetic mixtures for the management of modern agroecosystems. In this sense, a total of 36 Avena spp. genotypes including biological material from the Suceava Gene Bank collection (hulled and naked oat local populations) were characterized for phenotypic variability using the following descriptors: productivity level, diseases and pests degree attack, days to heading, days to maturity and the impact of weeds. The testing was carried out in in the north-eastern part of Romania, in two consecutive years (2020-2021), in intercropping experiments with fava bean and cereals in the variants: V1-Avena spp.x Avena spp.; V2-Avena spp. x Vicia faba; V3- Avena spp.x Hordeum vulgare). The statistical results from the one-way Anova analysis of the data highlighted a hierarchy of the heterogeneity of the hulled oat local populations for traits such as: weight of 1000 kernels/genotype, degree of attack of Puccinia coronata and Oulema melanopa, number of days to maturity. A smaller number of weed species was determined in the variants with cereals (V1-Avena spp.x Avena; V3- Avena spp.x Hordeum vulgare ) but an increased productive potential in the V2 variant (Avena spp.x Vicia faba), probably because of symbiotic fixation of nitrogen. The present study aims to identify hulled and naked oats local populations with phenotypic variability adapted to the integrated management of the intercropping system.