SIXTH INTERNATIONAL OAT CONFERENCE

ABSTRACTS



Citation: 6th International Oat Conference: Proceedings held at Lincoln University, Lincoln, NZ. 13-16 November 2000. Editor R.J. Cross, New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research Limited, Christchurch, New Zealand. ISBN 0-478-10820-6



Preface

At the 5th International Oat Conference, held in Saskatoon, Canada, in 1996, it was agreed that the next conference would be held in New Zealand. Crop & Food Research generously agreed to host the event, and timed it to coincide with flowering of field-grown oat crops.

In hosting this oat conference, organizers considered whether oats were doomed to becoming an interesting food relic used in haggis, porridge, a few breakfast cereals and for a few horses or were they going to be an essential part of the food industry in the 21st century where taste, health, convenience and sustainable production drive the market? Oats are considered to have superior qualities for both food and feed consumption, yet in terms of world trade of cereal grains, oats have commodity and sometimes only novelty status. The health benefits of oats have only recently been acknowledged, as is its ability to grow in cold conditions. This latter attribute offers new opportunities for cool-winter environments as a green-feed crop for intensively farmed grazing animals, and as a dual purpose crop for resource-poor farmers. It is, therefore, timely to contemplate what oats have to offer at the beginning of the new millennium.

Keynote, invited speakers and presenters of poster papers were asked to address the conference theme "Why (eat) oats?" In this way, the conference organizers hoped to generate an informed debate on the current and potential prospects for oat production.



Richard Cross, Howard Bezar and Keith Armstrong
Local Organising Committee
November 2000

Acknowledgments

The 6th International Oat Conference gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsorship and support from the General Mills (USA), Quaker Oats (USA), the North American Oat Workers group and Bluebird Foods (NZ). Their sponsorship covered all aspects of the conference, enabling a full and generous programme to be made available to all delegates at reasonable cost. Hosted by Crop & Food Research, conference organizers were able to proceed using full Institute facilities at negligible financial cost to the conference.

The generous support and guidance of the International Organising Committee - Brian Rossnagle, Deon Stuthman, Robyn Mclean and John Oates - is gratefully acknowledged. The local organizing committee members were Richard Cross, Howard Bezar and Keith Armstrong who are responsible for the programme design and function, finance and sponsorship, special events and social activities, workshops, tours and accompanying persons programme. Helen Shrewsbury's efforts in conducting the conference secretariat, through Lincoln University, is especially acknowledged.

The local organizing committee also acknowledges the special efforts of Michael Lee-Richards, Virginia Humphrey-Taylor and Winna Harvey for their support in the regional food tasting session and buffet using oaten products; Justine Lee and Cass Boyd for computer services; and Damien Coup and Peter Thompson for transportation services.


Contents

SIXTH INTERNATIONAL OAT CONFERENCE 1

ABSTRACTS 1

WHY OATS? 6

OATS: WORLD STATUS IN FOOD MARKETS 7

NON DAIRY MILK PRODUCTS FROM OATS 8

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONALITY OF FOOD CARBOHYDRATES: OATS AS FOOD FOR THOUGHT 9

OATS IN FOOD - WHERE TO NEXT? 10

OAT STARCH QUALITY AND RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER QUALITY TRAITS 11

ß-GLUCAN, THIAMINE AND SELENIUM CONTENTS IN OATS CULTIVATED IN FINLAND 12

DEVELOPMENT OF A FERMENTED, YOGHURT-LIKE, PRODUCT BASED ON OATS 13

OATS FOR FEED - A UK PERSPECTIVE 14

OATS FOR DAIRYING 15

COMPARATIVE GROWTH AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF OAT HERBAGE 16

THE IMPORTANCE OF OATS IN RESOURCE-POOR ENVIRONMENTS 17

AMINO ACID AND PROTEIN ANALYSES IN THE KERNEL OF NAKED OAT CULTIVARS 18

EFFECT OF MANURE-N ON NUTRITIONAL VALUE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF ORGANIC GROWN OATS IN DENMARK 19

RISK PERCEPTION AND RISK COMMUNICATION ABOUT FOOD - SOME REASONS WHY PEOPLE MAY NOT EAT OATS 20

COMPARATIVE GENOMICS FOR OAT IMPROVEMENT 21

OAT BIOTECHNOLOGY - WHERE TO NEXT ? 22

QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (QTLS) FOR PARTIAL RESISTANCE TO CROWN RUST IN OATS 23

QTL ANALYSIS AND MAP UPDATE FOR THE OAT CROSS 'OGLE' X 'TAM O-301' 24

SCAR MARKERS LINKED TO THE PC68 RESISTANCE ALLELE ARE AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR SELECTION 25

COMPARISON OF MICROSATELLITE AND RFLP-DERIVED PCR MARKERS 26

FACTORS INFLUENCING T-DNA TRANSFER IN OATS 27

DEVELOPMENT OF PCR BASED MARKERS FOR MOLECULAR MARKER ASSISTED BREEDING 28

USING MOLECULAR MAPPING TO ACCESS AND UNDERSTAND VALUABLE TRAITS IN WILD RELATIVES OF OATS 29

INTERNATIONAL NAKED OAT - UK TRIALS 30

EUROPEAN OAT BREEDING PERSPECTIVES 31

GLOBAL AND MEGA-REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES: NORTH AMERICA 32

GLOBAL AND MEGA - REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES : LATIN AMERICA 33

REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES - AUSTRALASIA 34

WHOLE GRAIN NIR PREDICTIONS TO IMPROVE OAT QUALITY 35

TERTIARY KERNEL IMPACT ON OAT KERNELS AND PRODUCTION. 36

OAT BREEDING AT INRAT, TUNISIA 37

INFLUENCE OF KERNEL SIZE ON TEST WEIGHT IN OATS 38

ANALYSIS OF KERNEL SIZE UNIFORMITY IN OATS 39

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OAT QUALITY TRAITS AND MILLING YIELD 40

SELECTION INDICES IN FORAGE OAT (AVENA SATIVA L.) 41

OAT BREEDING FOR FOOD AND FEED IN HUNGARY 42

ASSESSMENT OF YIELD CRITERIA IN OAT LINES OF QUAKER NURSERY 43

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE NURSERY 44

PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION - TIME FOR COMMON SENSE 45

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF COLLABORATION 46

CHROMOSOME 5C AND THE DOMESTICATION OF HEXAPLOID OAT 47

GENOMIC TOOLS AND GERMPLASM FROM OAT X MAIZE CROSSES 48

FROM CROSS TO VARIETY IN 10 YEARS - THE SELECTION OF 'JALNA' WINTER OAT 49

SOME QUALITY GROAT CHARACTERS IN OAT WILD SPECIES. 50

MILLENNIUM - AN OAT FOR THE FUTURE 51

MAXIMISING ENERGY AND PROTEIN IN NEW DWARF NAKED OATS 52

DISEASE ON OATS! WHAT DISEASE ON OATS? 53

MAJOR DISEASES ON OATS IN SOUTH AMERICA 54

VIRAL DISEASES OF OAT 55

JUST HOW MISERABLE CAN THE RUST DISEASES MAKE OATS (AND OAT BREEDERS) IN HIGH-RUST AREAS? 56

EFFECTIVENESS OF RECURRENT SELECTION FOR IMPROVING PARTIAL RESISTANCE TO OAT CROWN RUST 57

INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO STEM RUST (PUCCINIA GRAMINIS F. SP. AVANEA) RACE NA67 IN 'PAUL' OAT 58

INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO THREE PATHOTYPES OF LOOSE AND COVERD SMUT OF OATS 59

EFFECT OF MPTS LITTER EXTRACT ON GERMINATION, GROWTH AND BIOMASS PRODUCTION OF OATS VARIETIES 60

RESIDUAL EFFECT OF TREE LITTER BIOMASS AND N SOURCES ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF OATS AFTER SORGHUM, SWEETSUDAN AND MAIZE 61

HIGH SEED RATES INCREASE OAT YIELD WITHOUT REDUCING GRAIN QUALITY 62

EFFECTS OF THE DW6 DWARFING GENE ON AGRONOMIC AND GRAIN QULAITY FEATURES OF OATS 63

PLANT EMERGENCE AND GROAT YIELD OF DIRECT SEEDED HULLED OAT, HULLESS OAT AND BARLEY 64

STUDIES ON THE WINTER HARDINESS AND FROST RESISTANCE OF WINTER OAT VARIETIES 65

OAT YIELD AND QUALITY: EFFECTS OF NITROGEN FERTILIZATION AND SEEDING RATE 66

COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF OATS VARIETIES ON ROW SHAPE AND DIRECTION ON SALT-AFFECTED SOILS IN SUB-TROPICAL INDIA 67

OAT RESEARCH STRATEGY IN UK 68

THE OATEC PROJECT 69


WHY OATS?

Kenneth Frey -- Distinguished Professor
Emeritus, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

When I was an oat breeder in the state of Iowa, USA for the period 1953 to 1993, so many producers ask me that question, that, at times, I had doubts about encouraging them to continue growing oats. Iowa, which has about 35 million acres of cropland, grew about 6 million acres of oats annually when I began as the oat breeder in 1953. The annual acreage of oats was down to 300 thousand acres when I retired in 1993. That gives a regression coefficient of a negative 140 thousand acres of oats per year. If I and the other oat researchers at Iowa State University were responsible for this regression, believe me, it was a dubious honor.


OATS: WORLD STATUS IN FOOD MARKETS

Timo Pullinen
Bio Busines Consulting
Kuuselantie 32, 11130 Riihimäki, Finland

This paper is based on a global market study on oats commissioned by The Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The study was made in 1977-98 as a joint venture between Bio Business Consulting, Finland and Sparks Companies, Inc., Memphis, USA. The objectives of the stude were to find out the major trends and opportunities in consumption, processing and production of oats in the world.

The study serves as a basis for further research and development work for Finnish oats, but hopefully benefits the world oat industry as well. As part of the study, over 100 interviews among the oat and food industries in Europe and nearly 50 interviews in the United States were conducted. Additionally, a questionnaire market research was carried out in Europe.


NON DAIRY MILK PRODUCTS FROM OATS

Rickard Öste1, Gunilla Önning2
1Ceba AB, Scheelevägen 18, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden and Department of applied nutrition and food chemistry Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 222 41 Lund, Sweden
2 Biomedical nutrition, Chemical Center Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 222 41 Lund, Sweden

Oat milk was developed as a base for the making of different milk-free dairy products. It is made from pure oats and water only without the use of additives such as emulsifiers and stabilisers. The flexible production process enables the manufacturing of products suitable for different end uses i.e. milk substitutes, yoghurts, creams and ice creams. The nutritional quality of the oat milk suits the need of humans very well, and its cholesterol lowering property has been confirmed in clinical studies. Oat milk products are a palatable, healthy alternative to traditional milk products for both milk intolerant and tolerant people alike.


PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONALITY OF FOOD CARBOHYDRATES: OATS AS FOOD FOR THOUGHT

John A Monro and Ravishankar Cumarasamy
Food Industry Science Centre, New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research, Private Bag 11 600, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The brain depends almost exclusively on blood glucose for its energy. Although only 2 % of body weight, it uses 25 % of body glucose, is extremely vascular in taking 16 % of the blood supply of the body, and there is no barrier to glucose entry into the brain from the blood, all of which suggests that foods affecting blood glucose levels might also influence brain function. It has now been shown that despite homeostatic systems for keeping blood glucose levels within physiological bounds, normal variations in blood glucose levels can affect performances on tests of a number of psychological processes, such as abstract reasoning and memory.

The task of matching the glycaemic properties of foods with mental demands has barely begun. However, oats are likely to be a good material on which to base prototype products for enhanced psychological function because they have a relatively moderate effect on blood glucose, and the carbohydrate availability from them can be easily altered through food processing to furnish a range of products differing in glycaemic impact, and therefore probably in psychological impact. Testing the effects of oat products on psychological functions is possible under well controlled experimental conditions, but laboratory tests need to be validated as predictors of the effects of foods on the complex behaviours and under the conditions that are typical of the work-place.


OATS IN FOOD - WHERE TO NEXT?

Nigel Larsen
Team Leader, Food Qualities & Safety
Crop & Food Research
Private Bag 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand

New oat processing and fractionation industries are being seriously pursued in North America and the UK for both food and non-food applications. For the food industry, initiatives such as these, if successful, should help to revitalize the image and value of oats because even after rejuvenation in the late 1980's, oats have still largely been a commodity food or feed crop. There has been some differentiation of the oat grain into higher value food uses with the development of oat bran based food ingredients but more can be done. Cereal scientists can help the industry take advantage of the unique properties of oat carbohydrates, oils and proteins and to use these for imaginative new food products. Two examples discussed at this conference are dairy replacements and "brain food". It is my view that wide-spread use of the unique properties of oat starch in new foods would be facilitated by a food-grade oat fractionation industry.


OAT STARCH QUALITY AND RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER QUALITY TRAITS

M.B. Hall and A.W. Tarr
Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia, South Perth, Western Australia, 6151.

Varietal variation in oat starch quality can greatly influence processing and food product performance. In this study, Rapid Viscosity Analysis (RVA) and Flour Swelling Volume (FSV) tests were used to reflect the starch properties of oat flour. The FSV technique is particularly useful for application in the selection of early generation lines from an oat breeding program. Results obtained showed a significant positive correlation between; RVA peak viscosity, final viscosity and measured FSV. Correlations of lesser magnitude were observed between groat oil, ß-glucan contents and flour pasting characteristics. High relative mean values for RVA peak viscosity, final viscosity and flour swelling volume, with low pasting temperatures and short times to peak viscosity were observed in an oat cultivar currently accepted by Australian consumers.


ß-GLUCAN, THIAMINE AND SELENIUM CONTENTS IN OATS CULTIVATED IN FINLAND

Veli Hietaniemi1, Marketta Saastamoinen2, Merja Eurola1, Arjo Kangas1, Olli Rantanen1, Markku Kontturi1
1Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland
2Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd. Myllytie 10, FIN-31600 Jokioinen, Finland

ß-Glucan content was studied in oat groats at 8-10 locations in official variety trials in 1997-99. The studied varieties were Belinda, Leila, Kolbu, Roope, Salo and Veli. Kolbu and Roope are yellow oats and other varieties are white oats. Average -glucan content varied 4.8-5.2 % in different years. Significant difference in -glucan content was found between the varieties. The average thiamine content was 7,1 mg/kg fresh wt in 1997 and 6,3 mg/kg fresh wt in 1998. The highest average thiamine concentrations were found in 1997 in Leila (7,3 mg/kg) and Roope (7,6 mg/kg). Selenium (Se) content was studied both in organic and conventional cultivation. The organic cultivation resulted in very low selenium contents, generally < 0,01 mg/kg dry wt. In conventional cultivation the average Se content was 0,059 mg/kg dry wt in 1997 and 0,018 mg/kg dry wt in 1998. The warm and dry summer 1997 resulted significantly higher Se contents compared to rainy and cold summer 1998.


DEVELOPMENT OF A FERMENTED, YOGHURT-LIKE, PRODUCT BASED ON OATS

Olof Mårtenssona, Carina Anderssonb, Kenneth Anderssonc, Rickard Östed and Olle Holsta
a Department of Biotechnology, Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
b Ceba AB, Scheelevägen 18, SE-223 63 Lund, Sweden
c Skånemejerier, von Troils väg 1, SE-205 03 Malmö, Sweden
d Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

An oat-base product, Adavena®, completely derived from oats and water by a patented enzymatic process (Lindahl et al., 1997) was used in the developing of a new kind of non-dairy yoghurt-like product. One application of this oat-base is as a non-dairy milk substitute, Mill Milk ™ that has been found to have high acceptance and also cholesterol lowering effect (Önning et al., 1998, 1999). The low consumption of products from oats is mainly due to the lack of acceptable and suitable food products containing soluble fibers in appropriate levels (Salovaara et al., 1991).

Here we present the use of a tailor made oat-base as the main substrate for yoghurt cultures and the development of a yoghurt-like product with high sensory acceptance.


OATS FOR FEED - A UK PERSPECTIVE

Cark Maunsell
Oat Services, 226 Bassett Avenue, Southampton, UK SO16 7FU
Email: cark_maunsell@oat.co.uk

The aim of this paper is to identify recent developments in the UK, from the standpoint of working as a crop developer within the supply chain of raw materials to the feed industry. It would be difficult to present a paper on oats in a world context since the value of oats for feed will depend heavily on local circumstances such as the influence of variety and environment on nutritional value and on different countries' agricultural and feed industries and the availability of other raw materials.

Oats were the traditional feed on farms for many centuries, once the motive power of farms, and a grain recognised as having valuable characteristics such as good quality protein and a higher oil content than other cereals. In the UK oats can be easily grown, and the resultant grain is safe in terms of giving few digestive problems and possibly even having health benefits. There are a number of areas where high oat diets can lead to product quality benefits. On the negative side, oats have varying levels of fibre of poor nutritional value which degrades the overall digestibility of the oat, as well as other potentially anti-nutritional components such as beta-glucans and phytates.


OATS FOR DAIRYING

D.A Clark, E.R. Thom and J.R. Roche
Dairying Research Corporation, PB 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand

Oats can contribute to dairy cow nutrition as a grazed forage, silage or grain. They provide palatable forage for non-lactating cows in winter or cows in early lactation. Unfortunately, their full DM yield potential cannot be obtained without compromising nutritive value. Yield is also affected by multiple grazing. Oats silage can provide the winter component of a double cropping system with maize silage. This system can potentially yield 30-35 t DM/ha per annum. Oat grain has a lower energy density than other grains, however, it's higher effective fibre and N content make it a useful component of dairy rations.


COMPARATIVE GROWTH AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF OAT HERBAGE

J. M. de Ruiter
NZ Institute for Crop and Food Research Ltd,
Private Bag 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Oats (Avena sativa L.) sown in autumn or spring provide suitable pasture supplements for grazing animals. These were compared with wheat, barley and triticale alternatives over two seasons. The objective was to determine growth responses to temperature and radiation and to utilise the differences in biomass and nutritive quality (protein, soluble carbohydrate, NDF, OM digestibility and ME) to discriminate between breeder's lines and commercial standards. Thermal time accumulation provided opportunities for initial cultivar selection when related to biomass and there were differences among cultivars in radiation use efficiency. Season had a stronger influence on nutritive value than cultivar selection. Optimum use for grazing or silage was best managed by appropriate choice of harvest time depending the end use.


THE IMPORTANCE OF OATS IN RESOURCE-POOR ENVIRONMENTS

E. John Stevens
International Agronomist, Governors Bay Road, Cass Bay, Lyttelton RD1, New Zealand
Donald S.C. Wright
Oat Breeder, (formerly) New Zealand Crop and Food Research Institute Ltd., Lincoln
Dinesh Pariyar
Senior Scientist, Nepal Agricultural Research Council
Kishor K. Shrestha
Agronomist, Nepal Agricultural Research Council
P.B. Munakarmi
Senior Scientist, Nepal Agricultural Research Council
C.K. Mishra
Agronomist, Nepal Agricultural Research Council
Dost Muhammad
Agronomist, AKRSP, Gilgit, Pakistan
Prof. Jianlin Han
Department of Animal Science, Gansu Agricultural University, PR China

The impact of introduced western oat cultivars, used as livestock fodder, on people living in resource-poor areas of Asia over the past two decades has been remarkable. In Nepal and other areas along the Himalayas, greenfeed oats have helped significantly to alleviate starvation and improve nutrition. This success of this has stimulated the belief that even more can and should be done to help up-date these cultivars and bring new adapted oats and other improved greenfeeds to resource-poor regions throughout the world.

Key words: Oats, Asia, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Himalayas, greenfeed, impoverished regions, resource-poor environments, fodder oat network, forage crops in undeveloped, difficult and cool climatic regions.


AMINO ACID AND PROTEIN ANALYSES IN THE KERNEL OF NAKED OAT CULTIVARS

Nadezhda Antonova1, Petar Ivanov2, Ivan Lozanov1, Ginka Rachovska1
1 Institute for Introduction and Plant Genetic Resources "K. Malkov", Sadovo 4122, Bulgaria
2 Institute of Wheat and Sunflower "Dobroudja", General Toshevo 9520, Bulgaria

A study was made on the protein- and amino acid contents and their relationships in oat cvs Obraztsov chiflik-4 (hulled and kernel), Mina, Adam, Rhiannon, Tibor, Caesar, 83106110 and 83106111 (locals from VIR) and 89106245 (a local from Austria). The protein was correlated only with cystine - r=0,57*. Around 40 significant correlation coefficients among the amino acids were established. A correlation with only one amino acid was found for lysine - with glycine and isoleucine - with histidine. The multiple linear correlation analysis showed that arginine was the most powerful, participating in 6 equations. Although the year differences in the protein content among cultivars were great, they equalized when considered over a long period (8 years) of cultivation. The amino acid distribution remained stable. The environmental conditions proved to have less influence on cvs Mina, Rhiannon and the two locals from VIR. High-yielding mutant lines, containing up to 25% protein and 7% lysine, were identified.


EFFECT OF MANURE-N ON NUTRITIONAL VALUE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF ORGANIC GROWN OATS IN DENMARK

Jørgensen, J.R. and Wollenweber, B.
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Plant Biology, Research Centre Flakkebjerg, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark

In Denmark, field trials were performed in 1997, 1998 and 1999 in order to investigate the effect of liquid manure nitrogen (0-120 kg / ha) on both quantitative (yield) and qualitative (nutritional value and digestibility) parameters of two hulled and three naked organically grown oat varieties.

The results indicate that the organically grown naked oat varieties performed as well as the hulled varieties but that nutritional value and digestibility is less influenced by the nitrogen application than by seasonal variation. In addition, the measured quality parameters show that the naked oat varieties investigated are superior to hulled oats, but at the cost of lower grain yield.


RISK PERCEPTION AND RISK COMMUNICATION ABOUT FOOD - SOME REASONS WHY PEOPLE MAY NOT EAT OATS

Dr Lynn Frewer
Head, Consumer Science Section, Institute of Food Research, UK, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UA UK
Tel: +44 (0)1603255000, Fax: +44 (0)1603 507723; email: lynn.frewer@BBSRC.AC.UK

The public have become increasingly concerned about the risks associated with food. Public concern about genetically modified foods, BSE, emerging pathogens such a E-Coli 0157, and increasingly complex information about appropriate nutrition all indicate that effective risk communication with consumers is important and necessary.

Many different psychological factors influence public risk perceptions. Involuntary, unknown and unnatural hazards are feared more than those which people choose to take, which are understood and known to those exposed and science, and which are believed to be natural in origin. These include, for example, ethical concerns, trust and distrust (in scientific institutions, risk regulators and information providers) and perceptions of social exclusion from risk management processes. These all represent important determinants of how individual members of the public will respond to information about particular food related hazards, effects which are, of course, dependent on hazard type and perceived characteristics associated with individual hazards. All these factors may be important reasons why people do not consume particular nutritious foods such as oats - this will be discussed in depth in this presentation.


COMPARATIVE GENOMICS FOR OAT IMPROVEMENT

M.E. Sorrells
Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 14853

Genomic research emphasizes comparison of genes and genomes across species and genera using sequence and map-based tools that utilize evolutionary continuities among organisms at both the structural and functional levels. Elucidation of gene and genome structure-function relationships is based in comparative genomics and evolutionary genetics is the underlying organizational principle. Comparative genetics research and is critical for future improvement of species with large complex genomes or less research support. Trait dissection, integration of information about metabolic pathways, gene expression, and chromosome location facilitate the rational selection of candidate genes. Allelic diversity experiments can be designed to facilitate the identification of superior alleles for genes of economic importance so that they can be assembled in superior crop varieties.


OAT BIOTECHNOLOGY - WHERE TO NEXT ?

Nicholas A. Tinker
Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
960 Carling Avenue, Bldg. 20, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6 CANADA

What are the opportunities and requirements for oat biotechnology at the beginning of this millennium? How can we best utilize the power of comparative genomics? What bioinformatics tools should we be aware of? What technological developments should we watch, and what technologies do we need to develop ourselves? Why even bother with oat?

In this discussion, I will try to address these questions, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities that are unique to oat. However broadly one defines "biotechnology", it is clear that oat research needs to progress on all technical and scientific fronts in order that oat remain a viable and competitive commodity. I have tried to address individual topics, but the interrelatedness of these topics necessitates some cross-referencing and overlap. The final topics, "comparative genomics" and "bioinformatics", are unifying themes. I have deliberately avoided the topic of transformation, primarily because I have no expertise in this area. Despite current uncertainties about public acceptance of novel traits introduced by transformation, this is an enormous omission which readers must factor in as they see fit.


QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (QTLS) FOR PARTIAL RESISTANCE TO CROWN RUST IN OATS

G. Chen1, V.A. Portyanko1, H.W. Rines1,2, R.L. Phillips1,
K.J. Leonard3, G.E. Ochocki3, and D.D. Stuthman1
1Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota;
2Plant Science Research, USDA-ARS;
3Cereal Disease Laboratory, USDA-ARS; St. Paul, MN 55108, USA

To identify QTLs in oat (Avena sativa) associated with adult-plant partial resistance to the crown rust pathogen (Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae), a population of 158 F6-derived recombinant inbreds from a cross of an identified partial-resistance line MN841801-1 by a susceptible cultivar selection Noble-2 was mapped with 112 RFLP loci. A linkage map was constructed into 17 linkage groups and 23 unlinked loci. Three partial resistance QTLs were identified in field tests and explained about 27% of phenotypic variance. Two of these QTLs were also identified in greenhouse tests. The consistency of identification of these QTLs across three field environments and two greenhouse environments suggests that markers associated with them may be useful in marker-assisted selection for partial resistance to crown rust in oat breeding.


QTL ANALYSIS AND MAP UPDATE FOR THE OAT CROSS 'OGLE' X 'TAM O-301'

D. L. Hoffman1*, V. Portyanko2, J.B. Holland3, M. Lee4, L.L. Herrin5, and D.M. Peterson5
1USDA-ARS, National Small Grains Research Facility P.O. Box 307, Aberdeen, Idaho, USA 83210
2Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
3USDA-ARS, Dept. of Crop Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
4Dept. of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
5USDA-ARS, Cereal Crops Research Unit, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*Corresponding Author

Detailed molecular genetic maps of crop species have enabled the detection of quantitative trait loci (QTL)- molecular marker associations. These associations they have identified candidate markers for marker-assisted-selection (MAS) procedures. Our objectives were to use new mapping information to determine QTL-marker associations, and to add more amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers to the new 'Ogle' x 'TAM-O301' map. The parents, recombinant inbred lines, and two check cultivars were evaluated for seven agronomic and two seed quality traits in four environments (two years x two locations). Significant QTL-marker associations were found and these were compared with results of a previous study. This information will be useful to oat breeders and geneticists who are improving oat.


SCAR MARKERS LINKED TO THE PC68 RESISTANCE ALLELE ARE AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR SELECTION

David De Koeyer1, Winson Orr1, Anissa Lybaert1, Jitka Deyl1, Corinne Chenier1, Nicholas Tinker1, Art McElroy1, James Chong2, and Steve Molnar1.
1Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
2Cereal Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

Crown rust resistance is an important characteristic for oat varieties developed in many areas of Canada and the United States. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) with two sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers linked to the Pc68 crown rust resistance gene was successfully utilized to identify oat lines containing Pc68 resistance in four oat populations. Each of these markers can be used as either a dominant or co-dominant marker, depending on the alleles present in the population of interest. Research is ongoing to improve the efficiency of MAS using these markers.


COMPARISON OF MICROSATELLITE AND RFLP-DERIVED PCR MARKERS

Narinder Pal1, Jagdeep S. Sandhu1, Leslie L. Domier1,2, and Frederic L. Kolb1
1Department of Crop Sciences, 1102 South Goodwin Ave., University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 USA;
2United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Department of Crop Sciences, 1102 South Goodwin Ave., University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 USA

Two sources were evaluated for the production of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers in oats. First, nucleotide sequences of 306 randomly selected clones from an oat microsatellite-enriched genomic library were determined. Fifty of the 68 primer pairs designed were functional, of which 32 (64%) were polymorphic among 13 Avena species and 14 (28%) were polymorphic between Kanota and Ogle. Second, primers were designed from the sequences of six cDNA RFLP probes. Primer pairs from all 6 cDNA clones were polymorphic among the 13 Avena species and three were polymorphic between 'Kanota' and 'Ogle'. Thirty-five loci were placed on the hexaploid oat RFLP map.


FACTORS INFLUENCING T-DNA TRANSFER IN OATS

Sophie J. Perret and Phillip Morris
Cell Biology Department, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research
Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB, UK

A protocol for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of oats was determined following the study of the effect of various factors affecting T-DNA transfer to oat tissue. Highest transformation efficiencies were obtained when tissues were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium for long periods in absence of acetosyringone and on a low salt medium for the first 3d. Wounding the tissue prior to inoculation with Agrobacterium and vacuum infiltration also increased transformation efficiency. Although GUS expression was observed 4 weeks after inoculation of embryo, embryo axis, embryogenic callus and leaf base, no plants regenerated following selection on PPT.


DEVELOPMENT OF PCR BASED MARKERS FOR MOLECULAR MARKER ASSISTED BREEDING

Steve Molnar, Winson Orr, Anissa Lybaert, Nick Tinker, Davis Cheng, Alysyn Smith, Ken Armstrong and David De Koeyer
Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6

Within the ECORC oat development program, a total of 44 PCR based markers are currently under development and study for molecular Marker Assisted Selection (MAS). The data for the entire collection has been reviewed with regard to several parameters important to the design of MAS in oats. This poster summarizes the behaviour of these markers including the average percent polymorphism and the percent of PCR based markers mapping to the target loci.


USING MOLECULAR MAPPING TO ACCESS AND UNDERSTAND VALUABLE TRAITS IN WILD RELATIVES OF OATS

Catherine Howarth, Alexander Cowan, Mike Leggett and John Valentine
IGER, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, SY23 3EB, UK

Wild relatives of crop species are a rich source of valuable traits from which currently only a small fraction have been exploited for crop improvement. One of the fundamental problems of crop improvement is how to successfully access genetic variation from such wild species. This is particularly important to the transfer of valuable, novel genes from wild relatives belonging to the secondary or tertiary gene pools to polyploid food crops. In this project ,diploid and hexaploid relatives of the cultivated oat are being assessed for a wide range of agronomic characters. We are also producing a genetic map at the diploid level using parents possessing characteristics of added value to industry and agriculture. Moreover, molecular markers identified in this project will not only enable precise transfer of beneficial genes from wild diploid relatives to hexaploid cultivated oats but also assist in the development of novel designer tetraploid oats containing specific combinations of genes as required by specific end-users. Identification of markers to undesirable traits will make possible selection against the simultaneous transfer of adversely linked genes such as shedding grain base, awns and hairy lemmas, which have in the past often reduced the potential of such introgressions in plant breeding programmes. The use of markers should also overcome the previously insurmountable difficulties involved in the breeding of complex traits; the inability to identify individual genes, the masking effects of environment (e.g. soil fertility) and the presence of linked undesirable genes. Molecular markers will then be used to identify recombinants with maximum desirable loci and minimum undesirable loci from the diploid species. An increased understanding of the molecular genetic basis of grain composition will provide tools that will enable the production of premium value grain designed to meet the specific needs of the end user.


INTERNATIONAL NAKED OAT - UK TRIALS

Christopher Gavin Green
Semundo Limited Great Abington Cambridge CB1 6AS England

A series of trials to evaluate the UK performance and adaptability of a range of internationally sourced spring naked oats were initiated in 1993. Since then, and with a widening interest in the crop, the trials have now been extended to include a number of European sites.


EUROPEAN OAT BREEDING PERSPECTIVES

Dr John Valentine
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EB, United Kingdom
Dr. Bengt Mattsson
Svalöf Weibull AB, S-26881 Svalöv, Sweden

Geographically, Europe is similar in size to the inhabited areas of North America, but its border and language barriers make an understanding of European activities in many subjects nigh impossible. It is with much trepidation therefore, that we agreed to make a presentation on Oat Breeding in Europe.

The Russian Federation remains the largest oat producer but production in the last two years has almost halved. Declines in production in Ukraine and Belarus have pushed these countries into 6th and 12th highest producers compared to 3rd and 7th in 1994 (Valentine 1996). Production has more or less stabilised in Poland, Germany, Finland, Sweden and the UK. Notably, production in Spain has more than doubled to a level broadly similar to that of the UK (Table 1). The oat area in Spain (409,500ha in 1999) is over four times larger than that of the UK (92,000ha), with average yields in 1999 reported as 1.3t/ha compared to 5.9t/ha in the UK (Anon, 2000).


GLOBAL AND MEGA-REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES: NORTH AMERICA

Darrell M. Wesenberg
Agricultural Research Service - USDA
National Small Grains Germplasm Research Facility
Aberdeen, Idaho USA

Oat breeders in North America focus on the enhancement or improvement of several critical traits important to oat production and utilization. In the United States, consideration of disease resistance is the most critical aspect of oat germplasm enhancement and cultivar development, with crown rust resistance receiving special attention, and barley yellow dwarf virus resistance or tolerance, stem rust resistance, and smut resistance also being important. Other characteristics of obvious importance include grain and forage yield, lodging and shattering resistance, test weight, oat groat content, protein content, oil content, soluble fiber content (as measured by beta-glucan content), grain color, short straw, and insect resistance. However, the most critical issue relative to oat improvement is the marked decline in oat acreage over time, especially in the United States, and the gradual decline in oat research effort in both the public and private sector in North America.


GLOBAL AND MEGA - REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES : LATIN AMERICA

Luiz Carlos Federizzi
Faculdade de Agronomia, Cx. P. 776 ,91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil
Email: federizi@ufrgs.br

Oats is an important crop in several countries of South America. Besides the grain used by the industry , oats have been used as forage , cover crop for no-till systems , as a grain for horses and dairy cattle. There is four major macro-environments : Chile ,Argentina - Uruguay , South Brazil and the more tropical area of Brazil under 24 degree South , that present large differences on soil fertility ,diseases and in adaptation. The breeding effort of oat in Latin America has been long and its concentrated in 7 major breeding programs ( 3 in Brazil , one in Uruguay , 2 in Argentina and one in Chile ) ,with new varieties been released with specific adaptation to each environment.


REGIONAL BREEDING PERSPECTIVES - AUSTRALASIA

Robyn McLean (i), Keith Armstrong (ii), John Oates (iii), Glen Roberts (iv), Leonard Song (v) and Pamela Zwer (vi)
(i)Agriculture Western Australia, Locked Bag 4, Bentley Delivery Centre, Western Australia 6983 Email: rmclean@agric.wa.gov.au
(ii)Crop and Food Research, Private Bag 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: armstrongk@crop.cri.nz
(iii)University of Sydney, Plant Breeding Institute, Private Bag 11, Camden, NSW 2570 Email: johno@camden.usyd.edu.au
(iv)NSW Agriculture and Fisheries, Agricultural Research and Advisory Station, PO Box 304, Temora, NSW 2666 Email: glenn.roberts@agric.nsw.gov.au

(v)Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Leslie Research Centre, PO Box 2282, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350 Email: songl@dpi.qld.gov.au
(vi)SARDI, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, South Australia 5001 Email: zwer.pamela@saugov.sa.gov.au

Now is a time of considerable change in breeding programs generally throughout Australasia, and oat breeding is no exception. We are facing changes in research funding arrangements, breeding directions and priorities, changing market and end user quality requirements, and the integration of new breeding technologies into our programs.

It is also a time of exciting new prospects and opportunities to be seized by breeding programs. We have the opportunity to use new tools, such as marker technology, genetic engineering, doubled haploids, and others to improve our breeding programs and our ability to select superior lines. It is also a time in Australasia when we are starting to make significant advances in defining oat quality through our collaborations with end users and exporters.


WHOLE GRAIN NIR PREDICTIONS TO IMPROVE OAT QUALITY

P.K. Zwer1, P.J. Smith1, S.D. Hoppo1, and C. H. Hunt2
South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI) 1 and BiometricsSA2, Waite Research Precinct, Urrbrae, South Australia, 5064, Australia

Improving milling and feed quality is an important breeding priority in the SARDI Oat Breeding Program. NIR was used to develop whole grain calibrations that predict protein, oil, and groat percent. Reliable calibrations were developed and are being used for routine evaluation in the breeding program. NIR predicted quality values were analysed from single replicate seed samples and unreplicated trials to determine consistency of the measurements between years. The breeding lines were highly correlated with years and trials for protein, oil, and groat percent. Thus identification of superior quality breeding lines is effective using NIR predicted quality measurements.


TERTIARY KERNEL IMPACT ON OAT KERNELS AND PRODUCTION

Handel C.L., Stuthman D.D. & Fulcher G.R.
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, USA

Oat (Avena sativa L.) panicles are divided into spikelets, which have a somewhat variable number of kernels. Commonly there are only two kernels, but three and even four can be present. In most cases the primary kernel is bigger than the secondary one, and both are bigger than the tertiary kernel (TK). Not much attention was given to TKs until a few years. Some plant breeders believe that a high TK frequency might have been indirectly selected when selecting for high yield and/or high test weight (TW). These TKs may contribute to higher yields (more sinks) and may allow better packing of seeds inside the TW cup, giving higher TW results. This becomes a problem as the industry needs uniform grain for more efficient milling yield. It is unknown how the presence of TKs influence the oat plant development and the size and shape of the other oat kernels. Near Isogenic Lines (NILs) were used to compare agronomic and physical characteristics of oat lines with high and low TK frequencies. There is significant GxE interaction, causing TW to vary differently across environments. For the physical evaluations a detailed digital image analysis (DIA) experiment was conducted. Oat kernels vary significantly for size and shape across kernel type, position in the panicle and presence or absence of TK in the spikelet. Other DIA results will be discussed.


OAT BREEDING AT INRAT, TUNISIA

Mohamed Chakroun
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie (INRAT)
Rue Hadi Karray, Ariana, 2049, Tunisia

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is the dominant fodder crop in Tunisia. It is grown mainly for hay and silage. Research activities on oat started as early as 1913. The oat breeding program began in mid 70's by the introduction of germplasm leading to the release of four varieties. To date, the breeding program has been revived; its objective is to develop superior varieties with high forage yield potential and good level of tolerance to the prevailing foliar diseases. Ninety-five oat pure-lines, obtained from the Quaker Oat Nursery, have been evaluated. After two cycles of selection, the best lines were evaluated in replicated trials in the oat growing regions. However, greater improvements need to be achieved in order to produce enough silage and oaten hay that will sustain livestock production.


INFLUENCE OF KERNEL SIZE ON TEST WEIGHT IN OATS

M. R. Huhn, C. L. Handel, D. D. Sthuthman, And G. R. Fulcher
University of Minnesota

Test weight (TW), a measure of weight per volume, is used as a physical quality measurement for cereal grain by the cereal processing industry. Plump kernels are desirable for milling and, assuming their density is similar to that of thin kernels, they should weight more. Seed weight has also been found to be inversely related to infection of diseases such as crown rust. For these reasons the oat processing industry buys oats based on TW, and encourages plant breeders to select for high TW. However there is a contradiction associated with industry requirements for high TW because a less uniform grain size lot, having a mix of big and smaller kernels may have a higher TW than a very uniform size lot, other factors being equal. This happens because the mix of kernel sizes allows for better seed "packing" per volume. This becomes a problem as the industry needs uniform grain for more efficient milling yield. Ten varieties were used to measure TW across different seed shapes and sizes. Seed samples were sieved with three sieves of different widths, and digital image analysis (DIA) was used to profile seed size and shape. Significant genotype*sieve interactions were observed, especially when sieving did not create TW differentials for some varieties. The variety Richard had two distinctive widths for primary and secondary kernels, maximizing sieving differences and showing higher TW for the smaller kernel sample.


ANALYSIS OF KERNEL SIZE UNIFORMITY IN OATS

Douglas C. Doehlert1 and Michael S. McMullen2
1USDA/ARS Wheat Quality Laboratory, Harris Hall, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105 USA, E-mail: Douglas_Doehlert@ndsu.nodak.edu
2Department of Plant Sciences, Loftsgard Hall, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105 USA, E-mail: mmcmulle@plains.nodak.edu

Oats are routinely separated by size prior to milling because dehulling occurs most efficiently with uniformly sized kernels. Oats that divide into uniformly proportioned size fractions are more desirable for milling. Here, we report our investigations into approaches to the analysis of uniformity. We compared kernel length analysis by digital image analysis with physical separation of kernels by width. Separation by width appeared to give a better fractionation by kernel mass because kernel length among genotypes had poor correlation with kernel mass. Uniformity products are introduced to quantify uniformity of distributions among three size fractions.


RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OAT QUALITY TRAITS AND MILLING YIELD

M.B. Hall and A.W. Tarr
Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia, South Perth, Western Australia, 6151.

Oat samples from selected varieties and sites throughout Western Australia were tested for the following milling parameters over the 1997 to 1999 seasons; milling yield, percentage broken kernels, ease of dehulling and groat percent. The sample set was also tested for other quality traits such as protein, oil, B-glucan; and physical traits using Single Kernel Characterisation System (SKCS) and Digital Imaging apparatus (DIA). Milling quality traits were more influenced by genotype than environment in this study. Trends in milling quality rankings between varieties were largely consistent over the three years of the study. The data indicated the variety Coomallo as having a milling yield consistently 2 - 3 percent higher than the current Australian industry preferred variety Mortlock. Groat percent had the largest single influence on milling yield with these two traits having a close, linear relationship. The mean breadth and standard deviation of width of wholegrain samples were found to be negatively correlated with groat percentage and milling yield, indicating the ratio of primary to secondary grain to be an important factor in oat milling quality.


SELECTION INDICES IN FORAGE OAT (Avena sativa L.)

J.S. Verma and P. Bahuguna
Dept. Genetics and Plant Breeding
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology,
Pantnagar-263145 (U.P.), INDIA

Selection indices were constructed and their efficiency assessed in terms of expected genetic advance using 30 genotypes of forage oat. Six characters viz., plant height, number of tillers and number of leaves per plant, growth rate (g/day/plot), dry matter and green fodder yield (kg/plot) were selected for the formulation of selection indices for green fodder yield. Efficacy of indices over direct selection in terms of relative selection efficiency ranged from 14.9 to 667.5%, the highest efficiency being for the index score involving all the six traits. The efficiency of indices increased with increasing number of characters. The index score revealed 567.5% higher efficiency over straight selection based on green fodder yield it self.

Key words:Avena sativa, Oat forage, selection indices, genetic advance, selection efficiency.


OAT BREEDING FOR FOOD AND FEED IN HUNGARY

András Palágyi
Cereal Research Non-Profit Company, P.O.Box 391, 6701 Szeged, Hungary

The growing area of oats settled in Hungary on about 50 thousand hectares in the past 10 years. Nowadays the average yields are hardly behind those in Western Europe thanks to the excellent, well-adaptable varieties, although mainly wheat, maize and barley are grown on the better soils of the Carpathian Basin.

Oat breeding has been conducted almost exclusively at our institution, the Cereal Research Non-Profit Company in Hungary, although foreign varieties are introduced by several other companies as well. The following foreign oat varieties introduced into Hungary are worth mentioning: Salvador and Tikal (from Germany), Eberhard and Expander (from Austria), Kwant and Komes (from Poland).


ASSESSMENT OF YIELD CRITERIA IN OAT LINES OF QUAKER NURSERY

M.I. Cagirgan and C. Toker
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University TR-07070 Antalya-Turkey

Although oat (Avena sativa L.) is one of the oldest small grain cereals for food and feed in the world, the use of oat as food has recently raised. This trend has increased number of research on oat due to its emerging importance. In this study, one hundred and thirty five oat lines of Quaker Nursery were compared to local check, a land race, for their agronomic characters. The material was sown in the forth week of October 2000 at Urkutlu experiment location (37o 19' N, 30o 17' E and 850 m from sea level) in the West Mediterranean region of Turkey. Oats is generally sown in early spring and harvested after May in Turkey. Plots arranged in one row of 2 m length with inter- and intra-row spacing of 30 and 10 cm (20 grains sown for each plot), respectively. Fertilizers were applied at a rate of 18 kg per ha nitrogen and 46 kg per ha prior to planting. Number of surviving plants per row, plant height (cm), number of tillers, spikelets per panicula, number of grain per spikelet, number of total grain per panicula, biological yield (g), single plant yield (g), 1000-grain weight (g), harvest index (%) and cold tolerance (%) were recorded in each line. From the preliminary researc, some lines of Quaker nursery has perrformed better than local check for single plant yield, spikelets per panicula and number of grain per spikelet.

Average of surviving plants (7.87 and 7.13); number of tillers (3.42 and 3.38); spikelets per panicula (18.4 and 17.2); plant height (62.0 and 56.6 cm); biological yield (40.0 and 52.5 g/plot); number of grain per spikelet (2.66 and 2.75); number of total grain (330 and 420 per plot); single plant yield (1.42 and 1.08 g); 1000-grain yield (39.06 and 19.9 g); harvest index (29.5 and 13.6 %) and cold tolerance (39.4 and 35.7 %) were calculated for each genotype in the breeding lines and check, respectively.


INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE NURSERY

Deon D. Stuthman
University of Minnesota, USA

Today's oat research and breeding efforts globally are being impacted by a number of factors. Most oat production areas are being reduced in size and thus are becoming increasingly regionalized and even localized. This fact and others has resulted in a decrease in public support for most oat research funded at public institutions. As a result there are fewer oat researchers in all relevant disciplines and most of those remaining are not working on oats exclusively. Although there are few private companies doing oat breeding, ownership of intellectual property by public institutions/organizations, and the potential revenue stream that might result from exercising those ownership rights have become increasingly of more interest to public institutions. All of these factors and others have marginalized many long-standing oat improvement efforts.

Within this new "climate", it is essential that the effectiveness of all available oat research resources be maximized by optimizing each individual research program, and by connecting each program to as many others as possible for interaction and support. Regarding program connections, the existence of this meeting and the five meetings that have preceded it are a great step forward in connecting oat researchers around the planet. I want to publicly commend the group that produced the proposal that created the International Oat Conference (IOC), and in turn, these meetings. I also want to salute all of the members of the organizing committees who have planned each of the meetings. Equally important, the existence of the Quaker International Oat Nursery (QION), funded mainly by the Quaker Oats Co. for nearly 25 years, has been a great asset for sharing germ plasm among some members of the oat breeding community. Although the QION began mainly as a South American enterprise, it has been spreading in recent years, both in terms of germ plasm contributors and in terms of people and locations receiving seed of the nursery.


PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION - TIME FOR COMMON SENSE

Bill Whitmore
Commissioner, Plant Variety Rights Office, Box 130, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand

It is argued that because of its confused nature a 1998 attack on the plant variety protection system in Australia has little if any validity. A subsequent call by the CGIAR for a moratorium on the granting of intellectual property rights on designated germplasm in its collections appears to have been a hasty overreaction taken without full consideration of the facts. So that oat and other breeders can continue to have confidence in an ongoing, effective and balanced system of plant variety protection, a common sense appraisal of such attacks is needed to quickly expose any invalid claims as such.


PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF COLLABORATION.

K.W. Armstrong, R.J. Cross and M. Breitmeyer
Crop & Food Research, Private Bag 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand

The practical considerations for successful germplasm exchange rely upon good communication of actual exchange, recognising differing country requirements for quarantine issues and respecting conditions surrounding ownership.

Good field plot techniques among differing research environments require timeliness of sowing; allowance for differing field plot design; consideration of differing growing conditions for daylength, vernalisation, plant maturity, plant types and other edaphic conditions such as alkaline or acid soils; bird control; evaluations for and where required, protection against pests and diseases; special evaluations for disease "hot spots".

Dispatch of germplasm is facilitated by systematic orientation of packaged accessions, accompanying field book listing accessions in packaged order. Type of packaging will influence recipient's ability for rapid turnover for sowing, including identification and labeling of individual packets. Because some nurseries are not suited to all types, harvesting of well formed, clean, sound and dry seed sometimes is not possible, but the consequences of harvesting immature seeds or seeds with high moisture content will lead to subsequent sowing problems, and possibly embryo death by some seed treatment regimes.

Quarantine is an issue for most countries. Some countries are quite restrictive, and conditions for importation changing. For New Zealand, recent changes include the requirement for field inspections prior to harvest to be free of disease, as well as the more commonly accepted requirement for standard phytosanitary certificate.

Different countries have differing laws concerning ownership of varieties. Many subscribe to the UPOV convention, but each country may have issues particular to that country, for example, provisions for "farm saved seed". Some countries may have other forms of patent, or no varietal protection at all. Participation in an international collaborative nursery transcends these differing country property laws, but acknowledgement of these differences must be made. A general agreement covering all nursery accessions is ideal, but in practice, difficult to achieve. Allowances need to be made, recognising differing levels of cultivar development, and allowance for individual contractural arrangements for germplasm exchange.


CHROMOSOME 5C AND THE DOMESTICATION OF HEXAPLOID OAT

Eric N. Jellen1, Jolene L. Beard1, Gideon Ladizinsky2, and Mikel R. Stevens1
1Department of Agronomy & Horticulture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
2The Hebrew University, Faculty of Agriculture, P.O.Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel

The oat genomes are replete with cytogenetic landmarks. We have identified a knob at the telomere of chromosome 5CL that cosegregates with alleles conferring wild traits in a BC2F2 population of A. magna. Linkage analysis confirms the map order [Knob -Ba - A - Lc ]- Lp. We are also screening for linked AFLP markers. The 5CL knob was found in A. sterilis, A. hybrida, approximately 50% of A. fatua, and allotetraploid A. magna, A. murphyi, and A. insularis accessions. The knob was absent in accessions of A. byzantina, A. sativa, A. sativa var. nuda, and the wild, floret-shattering taxon A. occidentalis.


GENOMIC TOOLS AND GERMPLASM FROM OAT X MAIZE CROSSES

H.W. Rines*, R.L. Phillips, R.G. Kynast, R.J. Okagaki, W.E. Odland, G. Chen, C.D. Russell, S.L. Livingston, and A. Stec
USDA-ARS*, and Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA

In hexaploid oat (Avena sativa L., 2n = 6x = 42) both haploid oat plants and plants with one or more maize (Zea mays L., 2n = 2x = 20) chromosomes added to an oat genome have been recovered from oat x maize crosses. This report describes the production and characterization of these materials including the generation of a complete set of individual maize chromosome addition oat plants for each of the ten maize chromosomes, the recovery of chromosome-segment additions following gamma radiation treatments, and illustrations of how these materials can serve as valuable oat and maize genetic tools and germplasm sources.


FROM CROSS TO VARIETY IN 10 YEARS - THE SELECTION OF 'JALNA' WINTER OAT

Alan Roffey
Semundo Cambridge U.K.

Breeding and selections techniques vary from breeder to breeder. The following flow chart indicates the methodology employed within one UK Oat breeding programme resulting in the breeding of the successful U.K. variety 'Jalna' which may be seen in the demonstration plots.


SOME QUALITY GROAT CHARACTERS IN OAT WILD SPECIES.

Igor G. Loskutov
N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, 44, Bolshaya Morskaya str.
St. Petersburg, 190000, Russia
Email: loskutov@rgenry.spb.ru

This research presents the results of studying (1989-1997) 16 wild species with different ploidy level. The range of variability by quality parameters have been demonstrated and valuable forms have been identified by such characters as weight of 1000 grains, percent of huskness, groat protein and oil content, groat aminoacid and fatty acid composition. Relationship between geographical origin of the accessions studied and their quality characters was found.


MILLENNIUM - AN OAT FOR THE FUTURE

Cowan AA and Valentine J
IGER, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EB, UK.

The winter oat Millennium bred at IGER is a new variety with a range of exceptional characteristics. It has a distinctive large yellow thin-husked grain. The variety has a number of attributes making it well suited to milling for human consumption but it also has much potential for animal feed.


MAXIMISING ENERGY AND PROTEIN IN NEW DWARF NAKED OATS

Semundo Ltd
49 North Road, Great Abington, Cambridge CB1 6AS

A new generation of dwarf naked oats offers great potential for use as a high protein, high energy feed for poultry and pigs. Success in this sector is dependent on achieving satisfactory yield and protein content.

A study to maximise energy and protein (MEP) in the dwarf, naked variety Icon, set out to produce a target yield in excess of 5 tonnes/hectare, 16% protein and 14% oil. Dwarf types are resistant to lodging and allow greater quantities of nitrogen to be applied, which will increase the protein yield.


DISEASE ON OATS! WHAT DISEASE ON OATS?

John D. Oates
University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute Cobbitty
Private Bag 11, Camden NSW 2570 Australia

If we do concede that the cultivated Avena species do attract their fair share of diseases we should see if the basket of oat diseases in this part of the world is unique!

Australia is a Federation of States and the delivery of agricultural services has been by government based largely on the various states with their various abilities and perceptions. Therefore the disease priorities have often varied between states on more than scientific biological reasoning. The state boundaries have been almost miraculous in their ability to stop diseases, whether the boundary is a line on a map or a meandering river, it did not seem to matter. In recent years the main source of research funds in Australia has been the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), fortunately it has shown some common sense and has reduced the research areas from the state based six to a more pragmatic, agro-economic, three regions corresponding with the major grain growing areas of Australia: north, south and west. There is now a level of national coordination made possible by the interaction across the GRDC's three Regional Panels.


MAJOR DISEASES ON OATS IN SOUTH AMERICA

J. A. Martinelli
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State
Fac. of Agronomy, Dep. of Fitossanidade
Caixa Postal: 776, 90012-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil
E-mail: jamfito@ufrgs.br

The successful expansion of oat production in South America may be threatened by some diseases. Environmental conditions and genetic diversity found in our sub tropical region put pathogens like Puccinia coronata f.sp. avenae much ahead of the strength of the major resistance genes. Also, agricultural practices adopted by farmers in most areas, such as the direct seed drilling, favoured the outcome of diseases such as the kernel spot, caused by Pyrenophora avenae, and the head blight and root rot, caused by Gibberella zeae. The aim of this paper is to show the impact of these diseases in our agricultural system as well as the challenges we face to control them.


VIRAL DISEASES OF OAT

F. L. Kolb1 and L. L. Domier2, 1
1 Dep. of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, 2 USDA-ARS
1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 60801

By far the most important viral disease of oat is caused by the barley yellow dwarf viruses (BYDVs). BYDVs cause significant economic losses in many oat production regions world-wide. Host plant resistance or tolerance is the best method of control of BYDVs. A few of the viruses infecting oat other than BYDVs will be mentioned briefly, but because barley yellow dwarf (BYD) is by far the most important virus disease of oat the major emphasis will be on BYD and development of tolerant genotypes. Our objective in this paper is to summarize some of the research that we have done on the development of BYDV tolerant germplasm and the use of molecular markers associated with genes for tolerance to BYDV.


JUST HOW MISERABLE CAN THE RUST DISEASES MAKE OATS (AND OAT BREEDERS) IN HIGH-RUST AREAS?

M.E. McDaniel
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX U.S.A.

Average grain yields of 29 crown rust and stem rust-susceptible oat entries were 97% lower than for TAMO 397, a crown and stem-rust resistant cultivar, in the 1999-2000 season at Beeville (South Texas). Rust -susceptible oat entries at Thrall (Central Texas) had a 63% lower mean yield than did TAMO 397. Two other locations (one in each of these same areas) had much less rust damage. The results at Beeville and Thrall indicate that the rust diseases certainly can make oats very miserable in high-rust areas.


EFFECTIVENESS OF RECURRENT SELECTION FOR IMPROVING PARTIAL RESISTANCE TO OAT CROWN RUST

J.E. Diaz , D.D. Stuthman
Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
University of Minnesota
Email: jediaz@puccini.cdl.umn.edu

Crown rust disease of oat is caused by the pathogen Puccinia coronata and produces frequent and severe yield losses in many regions of the world. In the past, this disease has been controlled with genetic resistance and fungicides. Most breeders have used major genes that confer complete race-specific resistance. This strategy provides protection for very limited periods of time because varieties become susceptible once the frequency of virulent races in the pathogen population increases. More durable alternatives are necessary and partial resistance is being explored as one. The objective of this research was to determine the effectiveness of rapid cycle recurrent selection as a method for improving partial resistance to oat crown rust. The source population was created using named varieties and high-yielding experimental lines. Recurrent selection for grain yield was practiced during seven cycles. The progeny of the C7 parents was selected for crown rust resistance and after four rapid cycles (1 cycle/year) of recurrent selection for partial resistance, the different sets of parents were compared in three environments to determine the progress from selection. Results indicate that rapid cycle recurrent selection produced a significant increase in the level of resistance to oat crown rust and could be used as an effective breeding strategy to provide protection from this disease. Keywords: oat, crown rust, partial resistance, recurrent selection


INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO STEM RUST (Puccinia graminis f. sp. avanea) RACE NA67 IN 'PAUL' OAT

Solomon Kibite1 and B McCallum2

1Lacombe Research Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, 6000 C & E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, T4L 1W1, Canada
2Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2M9, Canada

Stem rust ( caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. avanea Eriks & E. Henn.) is one of the most destructive diseases of oat (Avena sativa L.) in western Canada. In 1998, a new race of stem rust, NA67, with virulence on seedlings and adult plants of western Canadian oat cultivars was found in approximately 27% of the spore samples collected from western Canada. 'Paul' is resistant to NA67. Information on the inheritance of resistance to NA67 in Paul is not available. This study was conducted to determine the number of genes and types of action of genes conditioning the resistance of Paul to NA67. The results showed that two or three independently segregating genes with dominance epistasis for the susceptible phenotype controlled the expression of resistance to NA67 in Paul. The results also suggested that selection for resistance in the F2 would most likely be ineffective in some crosses involving Paul due to the low frequencies of resistant plants. Consequently, selection for resistant genotypes should be deferred to later generations in which the frequency of resistant plants would be increased as a result of inbreeding (self-pollination), segregation and recombination of genes.


INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO THREE PATHOTYPES OF LOOSE AND COVERD SMUT OF OATS

Solomon Kibite1, J. Menzies2 and P.L. Thomas
1Lacombe Research Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, 6000 C & E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, T4L 1W1, Canada
2Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2M9, Canada

Loose smut (caused by Ustilago avenae (Pers.) Rostr) and covered smut (caused by U. kolleri Wille.) are important diseases of oat in Canada. Many distinct physiological races of smut have been described, but A13, A60 and A617 represent the most common physiological races found in the prairie regions of western Canada. Breeding for resistance to these three pathotypes is hampered by a lack of information on the inheritance of these diseases. A study was conducted in 1999 to determine the mode of inheritance, number of genes and linkage relationships of the genes conditioning resistance to pathotypes A16, A60 and A617. The results showed that the inheritance of resistance to the three pathotypes was conditioned by either a single recessive gene or by two genes with dominant-recessive epistasis. The results also showed that resistance to the three pathotypes were conditioned by three different sets of genes. The simple inheritance and relatively few number of genes conditioning resistance to A13, A60 and A617 underscore the relative ease with which oat breeders would be able to develop smut resistant cultivars for western Canada using currently available germplasm.


EFFECT OF MPTS LITTER EXTRACT ON GERMINATION, GROWTH AND BIOMASS PRODUCTION OF OATS VARIETIES

Banwari Lal
Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284 003 India

MPTS are generally grown on field boundaries as well as in social forestry system in temperate to tropical parts of the world. The litter biomass of these WITS dramatically influenced the germination, growth and biomass accumulation of oats seedlings at room temperature (25C) temperature. The aqueous extract of Mango (Mangifera indica) and Subabool (Leucaena leucocephela) on higher concentrations were very inhibitory. Light microscopy and measurement of root-shoot revealed that lower concentration (25 g litter biomass/liter water) of MPTS in water stimulate the germination, growth as well as dry biomass production of oats varieties. However, higher concentrations i.e. 50 and 75 g litter biomass/liter water drastically reduce the germination, growth and biomass production of oats varieties.

Out of 8.3 million ha cultivated area in fodder crops; oats being cultivated on about one lakh ha area in India. Although 15 species of Oats are popular in different parts of the world Oats which have their own identity due to moisture and nutrient stress tolerant ability. Therefore, the farmers which have limited/restricted supply of moisture/irrigation prefer to take cultivated as well as wild Oat with different MPTS combinations. Since most MPTS drops 1.5 to 8.0 t/ha litter biomass which otherwise improve the soil physico-chemical properties and serve as nutrient supplement (Lal and Singh 1998). Therefore, some of oats sp. Are traditionally popular in temperate-cum-hilly regions of J&K, H.P. and Utranchal (Photograph). The litter biomass of MPTS as well as Oats itself release innumerable chemical, bio-chemical and microbial reactions and derived number of intermediate compounds. Such natural products/ chemical released in the soil system and finaly make available to the crops and MPTS after degradation (Prasad and Subbiah, 1982). The present study was conducted to study the effect of aqueous extract of WTS on the germination, seedling growth and final biomass production of Oats seedlings.


RESIDUAL EFFECT OF TREE LITTER BIOMASS AND N SOURCES ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF OATS AFTER SORGHUM, SWEETSUDAN AND MAIZE

Banwari Lal
Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284 003 India

Application of 75% N through urea + 25% through MPTS litter biomass could influence the production to 10.96% over yield of dry biomass in 1994-95 and 13.08% in 1995-96 in comparison to without N. The increment in oats forage yield due to sole litter biomass of MPTS was 12.93% in 1994-95 and 14.6% in 1995-96 over without N application. Application of pure MPTS litter biomass increased the 29.7% in 1994-95 and 30.69% nitrogen content at harvest over without N application. Maximum N uptake was observed in sole litter biomass, application of MPTS in oats i.e. 31.25 kg in 1994-95 and 33.68kg in 1995-96 over without N application.

Out of 15 existing oats species over one dozen are found and cultivated/utilized in wide range of soil and climatic conditions in India. Although some of the oat species are traditionally popular in temperate-cum hilly tracts of H.P., J. & K., parts of U.P. and other northern states of India for livestock's like horse, cattle, donkey mithun, sheep, goat, poultry etc. Being rainfed tolerant and suitable for arid situations oats become popular in most sub-tropical areas. Being ancient practice for MPTS-oats get attention on the farmer's field due to socio-economic situation and agro-ecological conditions. Due to mixed population of various MPTS innumerable chemical, bio-chemical and microbial reactions naturally taken place and derived number of intermediate compounds. These secondary compounds released from plants may be volatilized from leaves, as leachate, decay of plant litter, decay from sloughed tissue from roots and their exudates ( Rizvi and Rizvi 1992). The addition of organic matter through tree litter biomass as one of the major source of nitrogen to the Indian soils which otherwise are generally deficient in nitrogen (Prasad and Subbiah, 1982 and Lal and Singh, 2000).


HIGH SEED RATES INCREASE OAT YIELD WITHOUT REDUCING GRAIN QUALITY

G. McDonald
Agriculture Western Australia, Katanning, WA 6317, Australia

The recommended seed rate for oats in Western Australia, as previously determined using older varieties, is lower than the optimum seed rate observed for more recent varieties. The optimum seed rates for these more recent varieties are between 75 and 100 kg ha-1 depending on variety. The quality of the grain was not affected by higher seed rates and was observed to be more responsive to changes in site location and growing condition.


EFFECTS OF THE DW6 DWARFING GENE ON AGRONOMIC AND GRAIN QULAITY FEATURES OF OATS

Solomon Kibite and George Clayton

Lacombe Research Centre, 6000 C&E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, Canada, T4L1W1

The Dw6 gene has been used successfully to develop lodging resistant oat cultivars in Australia, but to our knowledge no agronomically successful oat cultivars possessing the Dw6 gene have been developed in Canada or the United States. The contribution of the Dw6 to yield or other characteristics has not been quantified. The effects of Dw6 on agronomic and grain quality features of oat were examined at three locations in central Alberta, Canada, in 1997, 1998 and 1999 using seven pairs of dwarf (Dw6/Dw6) vs. tall (dw6/dw6) near-isogenic lines. The results showed that Dw6 reduced plant height by an average of 40 cm and significantly increased lodging resistance. Dw6 also reduced grain yield by ~26.0%, delayed flowering by ~8 days, slowed ripening by ~5 days, and reduced test weight and kernel weight by 7.1 kg hL-1 and 6.4 mg/kernel, respectively. In addition, genotypes possessing the Dw6 genes had lower oil content compared to their tall counterparts. The effects of Dw6 on protein content were not consistent across the seven pairs of near-isogenic lines. The reasons for the differences other than height within pairs of near-isogenic lines were not readily discernible from the results of this study. Both linkage and pleiotropy have been proposed as possible causes for the undesirable association of Dw6 with the agronomic and grain quality fetures of oat.


PLANT EMERGENCE AND GROAT YIELD OF DIRECT SEEDED HULLED OAT, HULLESS OAT AND BARLEY

George Clayton1, Solomon Kibite1, Brian Rossnagel2 and Neil Harker1
1Lacombe Research Centre, 6000 C&E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, Canada, T4L1W1
2University of Saskatchewan, Crop Development Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7J 4E4

Hulless oat has gained increased popularity in western Canada because of its excellent nutritional quality in animal feeds, higher test weight compared to hulled oats, and lower production costs compared to hulless barely. Management that aims at increasing seedling emergence may increase groat yields of hulless oats to the same level as hulled oats.

Field experiments were conducted at each of two locations in Alberta, Canada, during the 1997, 1998 and 1999 growing seasons. The results showed that increased seeding rate increased seedling emergence of both hulled and hulless oats. However, the increased seedling emergence did not translate into higher groat yields. Hulless oats showed lower seedling emergence compared to hulled oats at each seeding rate and each seeding depth indicating that a higher seeding rate should be utilized for hulless oat cultivars. Seeding rate and seeding depth affected a number of other variables, such as maturity, that would provide benefits to the producer growing oat. Higher seeding rate and shallow seeding depth should also increase the competitiveness of oat for weed management in direct seeded cropping system.


STUDIES ON THE WINTER HARDINESS AND FROST RESISTANCE OF WINTER OAT VARIETIES

O. Veisz, L. Láng and Z. Bedõ
Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-2462 Martonvásár, Hungary

Efforts to cultivate winter oats in Hungary have made little headway due to problems in overwintering. Breeding is aimed at the development of winter oat genotypes with reliable winter hardiness and frost resistance, good yielding ability and agronomic traits. For this purpose the winter hardiness, frost resistance and chemical quality of oat varieties used as crossing partners were determined, in five consecutive winters in the phytotron and field nursery. The results suggest that it should be possible to develop winter oat genotypes with frost resistance approaching that of moderately resistant winter barleys, enabling them to overwinter more reliably under Hungarian conditions.


OAT YIELD AND QUALITY: EFFECTS OF NITROGEN FERTILIZATION AND SEEDING RATE

W.E. May1,R.M. Mohr2, G.P. Lafond1 and A.M. Johnston3
1AAFC, Indian Head Research Farm, Box 760, Indian Head, SK, Canada, S0G 2K0;
2AAFC, Brandon Research Centre; 3AAFC,Melfort Research Farm

Increased demand for high-quality oats (Avena sativa L.) from western Canada has increased the prominence of oats in today's cropping systems, and thus the need for management strategies to optimize oat yield and quality. A three-year study was initiated to determine the impact of nitrogen rate and seeding rate on oat yield and quality. Over three years, from 1998 to 2000, 18 site years of data has been collect in two Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, containing 27 to 47 kg NO3--N ha-1 to 60 cm. At each site, a randomized complete block design consisting of four replicates of a factorial combination of five nitrogen rates (15, 30, 60, 90, 120 kg N ha-1) and five seeding rates (150, 225, 300, 375, 450 plants m-2) was established using AC Assiniboia or CDC Pacer. Increasing seeding rate consistently increased both plant and panicle density. Increasing the seeding rate increased yield when competition from wild oats (Avena Fatua L.) occurred or poor crop emergence existed. When good crop emergence occurred and wild oats were not present in the field seeding rate had no affect on yield. The responses to N varied among sites. In the first two years of the study, maximum grain yields were achieved at N rates of 30 to 60 kg N ha-1 at four sites and at 120 kg N ha-1 at one site; additional N did not further increase yield. In contrast, at three of eleven sites, low to moderate rates of applied N produced greater yields than higher rates of N. At the remaining three sites, significant interactions between nitrogen rate and seeding date were evident. Increasing the nitrogen rate tended to reduce test weight. The impacts of seeding rate and N rate on the % thin kernels and thousand kernel weight appear less consistent.


COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF OATS VARIETIES ON ROW SHAPE AND DIRECTION ON SALT-AFFECTED SOILS IN SUB-TROPICAL INDIA

Banwari Lal
Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, 284 003 India

An investigation was carried out during 1997-98 and 1998-99 to know the comparative performance of Kent, JHO-851 and JHO-822 varieties of oats on different row shape as well as directions on sodic soils in Indo-Gangatic plains. The germination, green forage, dry biomass and protein production of oats varieties was estimated. The germination of oats varieties was significantly increased when sown as double rows on raised beds in north west direction over ether treatments. The similar trend in production of green as well as dry biomass and protein was observed in both the years of experimentation. The existing check var. Oats kent was still found superior over JHO-851 and JHO-822 under sodic soil conditions of Utter Pradesh.

Key words: Oats, row shape, row direction, sodic soils, sub-tropics, growth, yield, quality

About 8.3 million ha cultivated area of India is under fodder crops and there is hardly any scope of expansion due to high pressure on arable land for food and commercial crops. Under such circumstances the option left for the farmers to cultivate the problem soils that are pre-dominantly found in Indo-Gangatic plains. Since these soils differ from normal soils and show wide variation in morphological features, physical properties and chemical characteristics from one region to another (Abrol and Dhurvanarayan, 1990). Although in India about 8.5 million ha area is affected due to salinity problem in crop root zone and this problem has become more acute with expanding irrigation sources (Agrawal, et.al, 1979). About 8 lakh ha of salt-affected soils are spread in to 23 districts in central U.P. due to acute sodicity impediment of drainage and shortage of water, vast area is rendered uncultivated as wasteland. These lands are highly fertile but less productive because of the serious limitation imposed by high concentration of sodic salt, poor drainage and presence of impervious hard layers beneath one meter depth from the surface(Lal, 1997).


OAT RESEARCH STRATEGY IN UK

Cark Maunsell
Oat Services, 226 Basset Avenue, Southampton, UK SO16 7FU
Telephone: 0044 2380 767228
Email: cark_Maunsell@oat.co.uk

Richard Laverick
Adas Rosmaund, Preston Wynne, Hereford, UK HR1 3PG.
Telephone: 0044 1430 820444
Email: Richard.Laverick@adas.co.uk

In the UK the oat crop is attractive to growers, as it is a good break crop, which competes well agronomically with the alterative crops such as barley, pulses or oilseeds. However the limiting factor to increasing the area under production is the lack of sustainable markets. Since 1995 both Government and commercial companies, have supported projects aimed at identifying new markets, within a coordinated approach.

The OATEC project which reports in 2001, will report in 2001 on the feasibility of an advanced oat fractionation plant to be sited in the Marches area of the UK, including an assessment of fractionation techniques and their associated markets.

INNOVATION investigated genotypic, husbandry and environmental effects on grain composition, and an assessment of the functionality of components for food use

AFENO will investigate the role of naked oats in avian diets.


THE OATEC PROJECT

Cark Maunsell
Oat Services, 226 Basset Avenue, Southampton, UK SO16 7FU
Telephone: 0044 2380 767228
Email: cark_Maunsell@oat.co.uk

Richard Laverick
Adas Rosmaund, Preston Wynne, Hereford, UK HR1 3PG.
Telephone: 0044 1430 820444
Email: Richard.Laverick@adas.co.uk

The OATEC project which reports in 2001, will report in 2001 on the feasibility of an advanced oat fractionation plant to be sited in the Marches area of the UK, including an assessment of fractionation techniques and their associated markets

Phase I concluded that advanced oat fractionation was feasible, and oat products derived from advanced processes were now being successfully marketed. Phase II will focus on the potential market opportunities available to a UK plant, and the design of a suitable fractionation plant to produce sufficient product.

As part of the project OATEC is researching industry attitudes to advanced fractionation, and a questionnaire will be distributed to all conference delegates as part of this exercise.





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