Associations among oat traits and their responses to the environment.

摘要

Desirable qualities of milling oat varieties include low hull content (high groat content), high beta-glucan content, high groat protein, low oil concn., low kernel breakage, high grain yield, and superior yield stability. In this study, a graphical method was developed for understanding the influence of environment on genetic relationships among traits. Associations among agronomic and quality traits in 67 oat performance trials conducted during 1996-2003 across Canada and some northern US states were studied using a trait-association by environment biplot, which allows visual study of pair-wise trait associations in multiple environments (year-location combinations). Based on the differential association of yield with days to heading and plant height, it was determined that the North American spring oat growing regions can be divided into Northern mega-environment (Canadian Prairies plus North Dakota and Idaho) and Southern mega-environment (Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ontario). It was also found that the following trait associations were relatively stable across environments: negative association of protein content vs. oat yield, positive association of beta-glucan vs. groat oil, positive association of beta-glucan vs. protein content, and negative association of beta-glucan vs. breakage. All trait-associations were of moderate magnitude and responsive to the environment. This suggests that breeding for superior oat varieties with desired trait combinations is possible, but must be achieved through direct selection for multiple traits in representative environments.