| Winter wild oat | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Pooideae |
| Genus: | Avena |
| Species: | A. sterilis |
| Binomial name | |
| Avena sterilis | |
Avena sterilis (animated oat,sterile oat,wild oat,wild red oat,winter wild oat;syn.Avena ludoviciana Durieu;Avena macrocarpa Moench;[2]Avena sterilis ssp.sterilis;[2]Avena sterilis ssp.ludoviciana) is a species ofgrass weed whose seeds are edible. Many common names of this plant refer to the movement of itspanicle in the wind.[3]
Avena sterilis is a stout, broad-leaved grass that grows up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall. At maturity, it has leaf blades that are up to 60 cm (24 in) long, and 6–14 mm (0.24–0.55 in) wide.[3]
It has aninflorescence that is either an equilateral or a slightly one-sided panicle. Thespikelets usually have 3florets,[2] but can have anywhere from 2 to 5.[3] The spikelets (withoutawns) are 1.7–4.5 cm (0.67–1.77 in) long; theglumes are 2.4–5 cm (0.94–1.97 in) long.[2]
The florets can either be a straw yellow or slightly reddish in colour. Occasionally, there can be reddish hairs at the base of the floret.[4]
Thelemma is usually 1.5–4 cm (0.59–1.57 in) long.[2] The florets are elongate and taper at the top. The two florets closest to the glumes have a twisted dorsal awn that is 3–9 cm (1.2–3.5 in) long.[2][4]
One can distinguish between the two subspecies,A. sterilis sterilis andA. sterilis ludoviciana, using the size of the reproductive parts of the flower.[2]
A study of 139 populations ofA. sterilis L. in Spain revealed 6 varieties based on morphological classifications, though no new subspecies were formally described.[5]
A. sterilis ishexaploid.[6] It anannual plant,[3][7] with a life cycle that mirrors manycereal crops.[4] While an individual plant is capable of producing as many as 200 seeds, the average seed production of a single plant is 13-21 seeds.[4] Seeds regularly live in the soil for upwards of two years, and can survive for as many as 5 years prior togermination.[4][2]
A. sterilis is native to theMediterranean Basin andWest,Central andSouth Asia, but is widely naturalized elsewhere.[1] The species grows on all continents except Antarctica.[4]
InNorth America, it grows as an introduced species in the U.S. states of California, Oregon,[8] New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,[4] and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.[8][4]
A. sterilis is a host to the pathogenic nematodeDitylenchus dipsaci.[9] It is a host to the protist plant pathogenSclerophthora macrospora.[10] It is also a wild host to Petrobia latens, commonly known as the brown wheat mite.[3] It is susceptible to two widespread diseases that infectAvena species,oat crown rust andstem rust.[11] It is also susceptible to thewheat dwarf virus.[3]
Genetic analysis has shown thatA. sterilis grass indigenous to Southwest Asia, and modern Iran, Iraq, and Turkey is the progenitor of domesticated oat crops such asA. sativa andA. byzantina.[6]
A. sterilis produces seeds that are difficult to separate from grain.[3] Because of this, its seeds have spread around the world as a contaminant in wool, cereal grain, and seed.[3][4]
Because it thrives in the same conditions as many agricultural crops and has similar lifecycles, the grass directly competes with and reduces yield in arable crops.[12][13][14]
Castillejo-Gonzálezet al., 2014 locateA. sterilis infested fields with almost perfect accuracy usingQuickBird (satellite imagery) and variousimage classifiers.[15]
Avena sterilis ssp.ludoviciana with multipleherbicide resistance - at 2sites of action (SOAs) - was first observed inKermanshah, Khuzestan, Iran, inwinter wheat cultivation in 2010.[16] These populations are known to be resistant toclodinafop-propargyl,iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium, andmesosulfuron-methyl.[16]Resistance to fenoxaprop-P-ethyl inAsl (andA. fatua) hasevolved in severalfields inEngland.[17] Although theseAsl andA. fatua are also hybridising, it remains unproven if this is why they both have resistance, or in which direction this has occurred.[17]A. sterilis populations inGreece are almost all resistant todiclofop but susceptible to most otherherbicides, including others of the sameMOA (i.e.,AACase inhibitors).[18] However, most Greek populations do have diclofop resistance andsome other resistance to at leastone other herbicide.[18]
