Year: 1979
Type: article
Abstract: Mixtures of primary and secondary kernels within each of four oat (Avena sativa L.) genotypes differing in primary:secondary kernel weight ratio (weight of primary kernels/weight of an equal number of secondary kernels) were grown in four environments with diverse yield levels. Grain and straw yields and numbers of panicles per plant and spikelets per panicle decreased as the frequency of secondary kernels in the primary:secondary combinations increased, while 100-kernel weight was relatively constant. The reductions that occurred as the proportion of secondary kernels increased were linear and were not affected by genotype, environment, or genotype × environment interaction. Plants in plots grown from 100% primary kernels yielded 14.5% more grain and 13.1% more straw than plants in plots grown from 100% secondary kernels. The higher grain yields of plants grown from primary kernels were due to comparable increases in tillering and spikelets per panicle. Although our results indicate that grain and straw yields can be increased significantly by separating out at least one half of the secondary kernels in seed oats, the cost of separating should be compared to the anticipated monetary gain from grain and straw yield improvements to determine if the extra handling would be an economically sound practice.
DOI: 10.4141/cjps79-148
Author: M. A. BRINKMAN
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Language: English
Topic: Genetics and Plant Breeding
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2016145325