Conventional and organic cropping systems at Suitia V: Cereal diseases

Authors

• Asko O. Hannukkala Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Centre, SF-31600 Jokioinen, Finland
• Eeva Tapio Department of Plant Pathology, University of Helsinki, SF-00710 Helsinki, Finland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72908

Abstract

The occurrence of diseases on barley and winter wheat was surveyed in a field experiment comparing four conventional and four organic cropping systems in 1982—88. On barley, foliar diseases were of minor importance regardless of the cropping system. On winter wheat, powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis), yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis) and leaf blotch (Septoria nodorum) were more prevalent in conventional than in organic cropping systems. Root and foot rot diseases (Bipolaris sorokiniana, Fusarium spp. and Gaeumannomyces graminis) were frequent on barley and winter wheat in each cropping system. B. sorokiniana infected stem bases and roots of barley more frequently in organic than in conventional cropping systems. During the first years of the study, a serious epidemic of G. graminis was recorded in certain organic cropping systems