Effect of the intensity of weed harrowing with spike-tooth harrow in barley-pea mixture on yield and mycobiota of harvested grains

Abstract

Harrowing is one of the most popular mechanical methods to control weeds. Nevertheless, the relationship between the effect of different harrowing intensities using spike-tooth harrow in barley-pea intercrop on the yield and mycoflora of grains has not yet been studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of harrow intensity using spike-tooth harrow in barley-pea mixture on the mycological quality of harvested grains, grain yield, as well as influence of barley and pea grain moisture on the abundance of fungi. The field experiment was carried out during 2010–2012, and it was conducted using a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Weed control was mechanical and chemical. In this study, we have shown that harrowing in barley-pea intercrops does not reduce the yield of either mixture components, both with respect to grain quantity or mycological quality after harvest, compared to controls—without harrowing and the herbicide MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid). However, increasing the intensity of harrowing did not result in a consistently larger crop yield or reduction in fungal abundance in the grains. The grains’ internal structures and surface of both tested components of the mixture were colonized to a large extent by cosmopolitan fungi, of which Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissl. was the most abundant.