Volunteer cereals
Volunteer cereals
Occurrence:
Volunteer cereals arise from seed shed at or before crop harvest. In barley the whole ear may break off while in wheat individual grains tend to fall from the spikelet. Some cultivars are more resistant to shedding and lose 5% of grains compared with an average of 16%. Cereal seedlings can emerge from straw used as mulch or as animal bedding. Seed can also be carried on and dispersed by farm machinery. Seedlings that reach maturity will produce a further generation of potential volunteer seedlings.
Volunteer cereals arise from seed shed at or before crop harvest. In barley the whole ear may break off while in wheat individual grains tend to fall from the spikelet. Some cultivars are more resistant to shedding and lose 5% of grains compared with an average of 16%. Cereal seedlings can emerge from straw used as mulch or as animal bedding. Seed can also be carried on and dispersed by farm machinery. Seedlings that reach maturity will produce a further generation of potential volunteer seedlings.
If present in large numbers in subsequent cereal crops, volunteer cereals will result in too high a plant population leading to yield depression and increasing the risk of disease problems. Volunteer cereals can also compromise varietal purity. A survey of weeds in conventional cereals in central southern England in 1982, found volunteer cereals in 4.2, 4.0 and 2.0% of winter wheat, winter barley and spring barley fields respectively. In another survey the mean level of varietal impurity in samples of wheat and barley was around 3%. Barley, and in particular winter barley, was more contaminated than wheat by other cereal species.
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