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β‐Glucan Content and Its Relationship to Agronomic Characteristics in Elite Oat Germplasm
Author(s) -
Peterson David M.,
Wesenberg Darrell M.,
Burrup Dave E.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1995.0011183x003500040005x
Subject(s) - germplasm , biology , avena , cultivar , glucan , agronomy , crop , genotype , genetics , biochemistry , gene
Oat ( Avena sativa L.) cultivars with nigh β‐glucan concentration may be useful as a specialty crop for human food. The objective of this study was to evaluate elite oat germplasm, as represented by the 1988–1991 Uniform Midseason Oat Nursery (UMON) and Uniform Early Oat Nursery (UEON) grown at Aberdeen, ID, and the Uniform Northwestern States Oat Nursery (UNSON) grown at Aberdeen and Tetonia, ID, for β‐glucan concentration. Relationships between β‐glucan concentration and other agronomic traits were examined. The stability of β‐glucan concentration among environments was determined. The β‐glucan concentrations of entries in the three nurseries ranged between a low of 30 to 47 g kg −1 and a high of 61 to 70 g kg −1 depending on the year and were different among genotypes. Tnirty‐three genotypes were common to all nine environments of the UNSON. The majority of correlations between environments on a pair‐wise basis were low, but significant, and stability parameters varied among genotypes. Correlations between β‐glucan concentration and agronomic traits were generally nonexistent or inconsistent across years or nurseries for the UMON and the UEON. For the UNSON, there were consistent significant positive correlations between β‐glucan concentration and test weight, protein percentage, and groat percentage and negative correlations with heading date. We concluded that genotypic variation for β‐glucan concentration is sufficient to enable breeding progress. Because β‐glucan concentration was not consistently correlated with other traits, concurrent undesirable shifts in other traits should not hinder breeding progress.