Cereal Varieties for Organic Production: Developing a participatory approach to seed production and varietial selection.
Contact: Dr Jane Thomas
Dr Rosemary Bayles
Other Research Partners: Elm Farm Research Centre, Middlesex University, University of Kingston, HDRA.
| A mnajor constraint identified by organic farmers in the UK is the lack of information on the performance of cereal varieties in organic systems. Whilst varieties may perform well under conventional management, their relative performance under organic conditions is largely unknown and significant variation in variety ranking may be anticipated due to the considerable environmental variation among organic farms. |
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Whilst recommended lists do include “untreated yeild” the crops are still grown using conventional practice with respect to fertilisers, seed treatment and herbicide applications. In particular the recommended lists provide no information relating to weed suppressive ability or resistance to seed-borne diseases. Nor is there any information on the performance of variety mixtures which have been demostrated to provide effective disease restriction and yield stability, particularly under organic conditions.
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Whilst recommended lists do include “untreated yeild” the crops are still grown using conventional practice with respect to fertilisers, seed treatment and herbicide applications. In particular the recommended lists provide no information relating to weed suppressive ability or resistance to seed-borne diseases. Nor is there any information on the performance of variety mixtures which have been demostrated to provide effective disease restriction and yield stability, particularly under organic conditions. |
Project Aims
1, Evaluation of cultivar resistance to seed-borne diseases
2, Use of ‘organic’ seed treatments
3, Cereal variety trials
4, Incidence & severity of seed-borne disease
5, Organic seed production - best practice
6, Evaluation of participatory research approaches
The financial support of DEFRA is gratefully acknowledged.
1, Evaluation of cultivar resistance to seed-borne diseases
2, Use of ‘organic’ seed treatments
3, Cereal variety trials
4, Incidence & severity of seed-borne disease
5, Organic seed production - best practice
6, Evaluation of participatory research approaches
The financial support of DEFRA is gratefully acknowledged.