Multi-Environment Analysis of Grain Yield and Quality Traits in Oat (Avena sativa L.)

Abstract

Oat is used for food, in animal feeding and non-food products. Twenty-five oat genotypes were evaluated at six different environments to determine high-yielding, good-quality and stable genotypes. Experiments were conducted in randomized blocks design with 4 replications. Grain yield, plant height, test weight, thousand-grain weight, screening percentage, groat percentage, protein, β-glucan and starch contents were evaluated for 25 oat genotypes. Genotype, environment and genotype × environment interaction had extremely important effects on yield and quality of oat grains. The additive main effects and multiplicative interactions analysis disclosed important genotype and environmental effects in addition to genotype by environmental interaction according to grain yield. Using AMMI analysis, three promising oat genotypes (G1, G3 and G7) were defined in comparison to the cultivars and these genotypes had 4.03, 3.77 and 3.70 t ha-1, respectively. AMMI-2 biplot revealed that E6 was the most discriminating environment for grain yield of oat genotypes. Genotype-by-trait (GT) biplot explained 54.9% of total variation. Grain yield were positive associated with all traits except plant height. G1, G3 and G7 genotypes, which showed the best performance and higher stability, also had good quality traits.