Genetic control of agronomic traits in an oat population of recombinant lines

Abstract

Understanding the genetic control of phenotypic traits is essential to increase the efficiency of selection for adapted, high-yielding genotypes. The purpose of this study was to determine the genetic control of nine traits of hexaploid oat. Phenotypic data were collected from a population of 162 recombinant lines derived from the cross ‘UFRGS17 x UFRGS 930598-6’. For the traits plant growth habit, hairs on leaf edges and panicle type, monogenic genetic control was observed. A quantitative and/or polygenic genetic control was stated for the traits panicle weight, panicle length, vegetative cycle, plant height, test weight and grain yield. High heritability was estimated for the traits vegetative cycle (h2 = 0.89) and plant height (h2 = 0.79), while moderate heritability was determined for test weight (h2 = 0.51) and grain yield (h2 = 0.48).