Selection for Greater β-Glucan Content in Oat Grain

Abstract

<p>Oat (<em>Avena sativa</em> L.) β-glucan lowers serum cholesterol in humans. Development of oat cultivars with greater groat (caryopsis) β-glucan content would increase the nutritional and economic value of the crop. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the response to phenotypic selection among individual S₀ plants for greater groat β-glucan content in two genetically broad-based populations; to compare selected experimental lines to standard check cultivars; and to estimate genetic variances and heritabilities and to test for nonadditive genetic variance for β-glucan content. We measured groat β-glucan contents of check cultivars and parental lines and random S_0:1 lines from initial and selected generations of each population grown in field experiments in 1996 and 1997 at two Iowa locations. Mean β-glucan content increased from 53.9 to 59.9 g kg⁻¹ in one population, and from 63.5 to 66.0 g kg⁻¹ in the other, following selection. Genetic variance of β-glucan content decreased by 9 to 22% following selection, but heritability for β-glucan content did not change significantly. Heritability estimates ranged from 0.80 to 0.85 on a line mean basis. Additive variance was the only substantial component of genetic variance. Some experimental lines had significantly greater β-glucan content than the best check cultivars and lines. Phenotypic selection for greater groat β-glucan content will be effective for developing cultivars with elevated β-glucan contents.</p>