Abstract

Ten accessions of Avena sterilis L. (males) were tested as sources of genes for improving productivity of cultivated oats (A. sativa L.). They were mated with six A. sativa (females) cultivars from the north central USA, and populations of F₂-derived lines in F₃ from these matings were evaluated for grain yield and biomass at three locations in Iowa and vegetative growth index at one location. Maximum specific combining ability (SCA) effects exceeded maximum general combining ability (GCA) effects for all traits in both males and females. The SCA sums of squares were intermediate in magnitude between the GCA sums of squares for males and females. Transgressive segregates, one LSD^0.005 above the high parent, were derived from every parent for each trait. However, there was a greater percentage of significantly high transgressive segregates for biomass and vegetative growth index than for grain yield (9.8, 9.0, and 3.1%, respectively). Performances of the A. sterilis accessions and A. sativa cultivars per se generally were good predictors of mean progeny performance for each trait. However, the production of extreme progeny types was more closely associated with the mean genotypic variance of a parent, as calculated over the array of matings, than with that of parental performance per se.

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