In Northern Quebec, Canada (Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area), barley production is very important but fusarium head blight (FHB) has become a major problem in this region. In 2001, about 10 % of the barley acreage (1 800 ha) had a DON content superior to 2 mg kg-1. In 2002, the problem was more severe with 40 % of the barley area infected with FHB. The economic losses associated with FHB in barley were estimated at 2 million Canadian dollars during those 2 years in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. In 2003 and 2004, several management systems (straw removal, use of disk harrow or cultivator) were applied in barley, oat and wheat fields to measure the effect of straw incorporation on DON content. Direct seeding, chiseling and moldboard plowing were also evaluated. No inoculation was performed on those trials. In 2003, DON content in grain varied from 4.9 to 7.4 mg kg-1 in oat samples and from 5.9 to 8.9 mg kg-1 in wheat samples. For both oat and wheat, the treatments had no significant effect on DON content. DON content varied from 10.3 to 40.3 mg kg-1 in barley and was significantly higher in chisel and no-till treatments compared to moldboard. Straw management or spring harrowing had no effect on DON content in barley. In 2004, FHB was less important and the treatments had no significant effect on DON content in oat and barley. However, DON content in wheat was significantly affected by tillage system. The results indicate that moldboard plowing can reduce DON content in barley (2003) and wheat (2004). However, tillage system had no significant effect on mycotoxin content in oat. Straw management had also little effect on DON content in cereals.
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