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Inheritance of Test Weight and Its Relationship with Grain Yield of Oat

CIMMYT, Lisboa 27, Apdo. Postal 6-641

K. J. Frey^*

Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011

*Corresponding author.

Test weight is a measure of grain quality and market value of oat (Avena saliva L.). This study was conducted to evaluate the degree of genetic variability for test weight among elite oat germplasm, and to assess the feasibility of breeding oat cultivars with increased test weight. Variance components and heritability of test weight were estimated by evaluating 50 random F_2:3 lines from each of 13 singlecrosses. Evaluations were conducted in a trial with four replications at each of three locations in Iowa. Significant genetic variance (P 0.01) occurred for test weight in all populations. Heritabilities for test weight, calculated on a line-mean basis, ranged from 63 to 91%. Transgressive segregation occurred in 10 populations, but lowtest-weight segregates were more frequent than high transgressive lines. High heritabilities, the general concurrence between mating means and midparent values, and normality of the distributions of segregating lines suggest that gene action for test weight is primarily additive. Correlations between test weight and grain yield were positive for eight populations, negative for one, and not significant for four. We found significant genetic variance and high heritability for test weight and grain yield. Because test weight and grain yield were typically positively correlated, breeding high-yielding oats with improved test weight should be possible.

Received for publication November 20, 1989.