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Oat Blast
Blast is a problem of incomplete seed development in oat that normally occurs each year. Instead of all the oat spikelets (unit of the panicle or head that contains florets or flowers) possessing seed, there are a number of aborted or sterile florets, usually in the lower part of the panicle, that do not produce seed. The result is only partially-formed, white glumes (chaff) that do not contain seed.
Oat blast may be caused by disease pathogens, including barley yellow dwarf and oat blue dwarf viruses. But, more commonly, blast is due to environmental stress, such as high temperatures or lack of soil moisture, that adversely affects the florets and ultimately does not allow the seed to properly develop. The oat growth period where stress may cause blast starts during panicle formation (3-leaf stage of oat) and continues through floret pollination.
The potential for blast can be reduced by managing for optimum oat growing conditions, such as providing adequate soil fertility and planting early. Early-planted oat usually results in growth during a less stressful environment, compared to seeding the crop late. However, this year the early-seeded and early-maturing oat varieties appear have more blast and less yield potential due to environmental stress during the yield-determining stages of growth, compared to late-seeded oat.
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