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Nitrogen Fertilizer Complements Breeding in Improving Yield and Quality of Milling Oat
Author(s) -
Yan Weikai,
FregeauReid Judith,
Ma BaoLuo,
Pageau Denis,
Vera Cecil
Publication year - 2017
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/cropsci2017.05.0290
Subject(s) - cultivar , biplot , fertilizer , agronomy , avena , biology , yield (engineering) , grain yield , grain quality , nitrogen , genotype , mathematics , chemistry , materials science , gene , biochemistry , organic chemistry , metallurgy
A four‐level nitrogen (N) fertilizer study was conducted for nine diverse oat ( Avena sativa L.) cultivars at three geographically diverse locations in Canada in 2013 and 2014 to study the effects of N fertilizer on grain yield and important quality parameters of milling oat. Analysis of variance and biplot analysis were used to interpret the multifactor, multitrait data. The findings are: (i) N fertilizer up to 150 kg ha −1 led to simultaneous and statistically significant improvement of grain yield, milling quality (groat content and proportion of undehulled kernels), and compositional quality (β‐glucan, protein, and oil concentrations), despite some N × genotype and N × environment interactions. (ii) β‐Glucan and oil concentrations were much more strongly determined by genotype than by N fertilizer; groat content and proportion of undehulled kernels were slightly more strongly determined by genotype than by N fertilizer; protein was similarly determined by genotype and N fertilizer; and grain yield was much more determined by N fertilizer than by genotype. (iii) Nitrogen fertilizer effectively increased the yield of high‐β‐glucan, low‐yielding cultivars but had a limited (though statistically significant) effect in improving the β‐glucan levels of cultivars that are low in β‐glucan. (iv) Cultivars differed in the extent of response to N fertilizer, so it is necessary to develop cultivar‐specific N management plans for different cultivars. It is proposed to use N fertilizer to improve yield (and, to a lesser extent, quality parameters) to complement breeding prioritizing superior quality (high β‐glucan in particular) and lodging resistance.