Oats yield in drought conditions

Abstract

The research was undertaken to determine the most appropriate oat varieties and terms of sowing for three very different localities: Banja Luka, Drinic and Novi Sad. Two oat varieties were two from Croatia, four from Serbia and one from Bosnia and Herzegovina. One was naked variety. The trial was set up according to the randomized block method in four repetitions. The trial was sown in three terms at each location. The field research is planned to be conducted in 2003 and 2004. Primary factor in oats production is climate (Coffman 1961). Oats has very porous stem, consequently high transpiration coefficient and increased water demand (Kastori 1995). Vegetation season in the 2003 was the driest and warmest one in the meteorological history of these meteorological stations. In such circumstances, the highest average yield (4528 kgha-1) and the best quality of seed was obtained on the mountain locality Drinic. The strongest effect of drought was registered on Novi Sad causing serious reducement of grain yield (average 2763 kgha-1). Hectoliter mass and 1000 seeds mass did not fail. The grain yield on Banja Luka was significantly higher than grain yield on Novi Sad, but the mass of 1000 grains and hectoliter mass were lower. The first sowing term in Novi Sad provided highest grain yield. The second sowing term in Banja Luka and Drinic provided the highest average yield. The best grain yield at Novi Sad and Banja Luka was obtained with variety Slavuj. All varieties on Drinic provided very similar grain yield. Naked oat gave significantly lower grain yield on all localities and terms in comparison with chaffed ones. References: Coffman, A. F. 1961. In: Oats and oat improvement. American Society of Agronomy Madison: p. 12; Kastori, R. 1995. Plant Phisiology. Nauka Beograd: p. 110.