A long-term investment in public oat breeding programs has helped improve yields and grain quality despite rising temperatures, according to a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Although oats are grown on fewer acres than many other U.S. crops, demand continues to grow as consumers seek heart-healthy food products. Researchers said public breeding programs have played a key role in helping farmers meet that demand through genetic improvements in yield and other agronomic traits.

Only five public oat breeding programs remain in the U.S. Midwest, including the University of Illinois Oat Breeding Program. Together, those programs develop most of the oat varieties grown across the region.

Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of the university's breeding program by analyzing 18 years of field trial data collected at three Illinois locations. The study found oat yields increased an average of 1.2% annually, resulting in a total gain of 645 kilograms per hectare, or about 18 bushels per acre, during the study period.

The study also found test weight, an important measure that determines whether oats qualify for the higher-value food-grade market, increased by about one-half pound per bushel each year.

"What this means is that the breeding program has been very effective in increasing yields and test weight despite some detrimental environmental conditions," said Juan Arbelaez, associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois. "We are located at the farthest south of what we consider the oat region. Our region is prone to heat stress, but despite that, we've been able to achieve gains for the past nearly 20 years."

Despite the improvements, researchers found high temperatures during key reproductive stages reduced both yield and test weight, highlighting opportunities for additional breeding progress.

"Heat stress can be a big problem because it decreases the test weight of oats, and that's what gives oats value as a food crop," Arbelaez said. "By continuing this work, we want to guarantee that there will be oat varieties available to farmers that can meet those standards regardless of the climate."

The researchers also evaluated resistance to Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus, a common oat disease, and found resistance remained stable over the 18-year period.

"In the case of disease resistance, specifically BYDV, there is a constant evolutionary race between the virus and host, where infection mechanisms in the virus cause resistance mechanisms in the host, and vice versa," Arbelaez said.

Researchers said the stable disease resistance indicates breeding efforts have kept pace with the evolving virus rather than allowing resistance to decline.

Looking ahead, the University of Illinois breeding program plans to incorporate genomic selection and high-throughput sequencing to continue improving oat varieties and help farmers meet future production and quality challenges.

Source: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, "How Illinois is improving oats for growers and consumers"