Evaluation of Oat Breeding Lines for Resistance to Fusarium spp.

Oat genotypes evaluated for health potential for human nutrition were infected by fungi Fusarium graminearum (FG) and F. culmorum (FC). These fungi produce mycotoxin of deoxynivalenol (DON). Altogether, 37 genotypes were evaluated, of which 16 represented genotypes of naked oat (11 breeding lines and 5 varieties) and 21 oats (11 breeding lines and 10 varieties). During flowering of oats, a mixed inoculum of fungi FC and FG with the use of motor spray was applied to the panicles three times with a three-day spacing. Grains obtained from infected panicles were analysed by ELISA to determine the amount of DON in individual samples. The average contamination of the whole assay set reached a level of 1.47 mg.kg(-1) DON mycotoxin. Overall, the genotypes of the hulled oats were 40.11 % more contaminated than naked oats with an average contamination of 1.06 mg.kg(-1). The smallest amount of DON (0.33 mg.kg(-1)) was accumulated by breeding line of hulled oats, breeding lines of naked oats accumulated DON in the range from 0.45 mg.kg(-1) to 1.73 mg.kg(-1).