The Effect of Wheat, Barley, and Oat Root System Interactions, in Two-Species Mixtures

Pot experiments performed in the Institute of Plant Protection - National Research Institute were designed to determine the influence of the root systems of various spring cereal species sown in mixtures. The experiment used the Bryza variety of spring wheat, Antek variety of spring barley, and Cwał variety of oat, sown in two-species mixtures (8 + 8 plants per pot). In three of the six study objects, plastic sleeves were used at the time of sowing the seeds so as to separate the root systems of the cereal species under study. Cereals were harvested at full maturity. The height and number of stalks, the number of cereal spikes (panicles), dry root weight, dry stalk weight, the number of grains per spike (panicle), the 1,000-grain weight, and grain yield were established. The results have shown that the strongest competitor in the mixtures was barley. Barley also responded positively to the presence of both wheat and oat in the mixtures.