Oat has been more often used in human nourishment in recent years for any rational diet. Grains contaminated with Fusarium spp. are unsuitable for both human and animal consumption because of the adverse health effects of fusariotoxins. The aim of this work was to examine the reactions of covered oats to artificial infection with Fusarium culmorum (W. G. Smith) Sacc. and the accumulation of deoxynivalenol mycotoxin in seeds. Covered cultivars registered in Slovakia (Zvolen, Auron, Atego, Flamingsstern, Kanton, Viktor, Zlat'ak, Euro and Ardo) were inoculated during flowering in 2006 and 2007 with conidial suspensions of aggressive isolate of F. culmorum Sacc. After ripening, twenty panicles were harvested manually from each plot of blocks (block 1. inoculated, block 2. uninoculated). The threshed seeds were then manually cleaned and hulled. The reduction in 1000-kernel weight (R-TKW) was calculated. The kernel samples were also analysed for deoxynivalenol (DON) content by a commercial ELISA kit for quantitative analysis of DON in cereals. The differences between the oat cultivars were observed in R-TKW and DON contents. A high RTKW was discovered in Flamingsstern and a low reduction in Euro, Ardo and Zlat'ak. The average range of DON accumulation was from 3.45 mg kg -1 to 19.05 mg kg -1. From the oat cultivars a mean high DON accumulation (in 2006 and 2007 years) was found in Kanton and Ardo cultivars, a low one in seeds of Zlat'ak, Euro and Auron. This is the first piece of information on reduction in 1000-kernel weight and concentrations of DON in covered oat cultivars in Slovakia after artificial infection with Fusarium culmorum.
