BUDGET TOTAL (7/1/2017-6/30/2018): $10,000

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1 COVER PAGE PROJECT TITLE: Oat Improvement for California STATUS: Continuing PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Isabel Alicia del Blanco Dep. of Plant Sciences, UC Davis OTHER INVESTIGATORS: Jorge Dubcovsky BUDGET TOTAL (7/1/2017-6/30/2018): $10,000 SUMMARY: California is one of the States with more acreage dedicated to oat. The UCD oat-breeding program emphasizes varietal improvement oriented to an end-use for forage, hay, and/or green chop. Our goal is to create new and improved lines and varieties by traditional breeding methods, combining traits such as short cycle from planting to maturity, and resistance to the most important oat diseases, i.e., barley yellow dwarf (BYD) and cereal yellow dwarf (CYD), both of which cause leaf reddening or yellowing, stunting, and in severe infections, plant death. Resistance to crown rust, stem rust, powdery mildew, and leaf blotch is also pursuit and selected when these diseases are present. Additional agronomic improvement emphasizes culm thinness, height and resistance to lodging. The main goal of our program is to find a suitable replacement to the very popular oat variety Montezuma released in Every year we make new crosses, select segregating populations, advance lines, and evaluate advanced/elite lines in replicated experiments. We also evaluate, every year, new introductions in the nurseries we receive (e.g., Quaker Nursery) and the best selections are incorporated in the crossing block.

2 PROJECT TITLE: Oat Improvement for California OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the Oat Improvement Project at UCD is to develop new cultivars with improved disease resistance, enhanced agronomic performance and productivity, and adapted to California. The Oat Project includes germplasm from diverse sources and carrying many different valuable traits. We combine the most desirable characteristics to originate segregating populations where to select the best lines. The two primary objectives are: 1) to incorporate into new UCD cultivars additional virus resistance to BYD and CYD, which cause leaf reddening and dwarfing; 2) to incorporate the early flowering of Montezuma in a healthier, more productive UCD cultivar. In addition to selecting for improved disease and agronomic traits, we also select various plant types for different end-uses and/or environments, such as grain or hay/forage/green chop, irrigated or dry land. PROCEDURES: Conventional breeding methods, which are highly successful for self-pollinated crops, are our main tool to create new cultivars. Every year we use a combination of bulk-pedigree breeding to select and advance the different generations of oat. We use adapted UCD cultivars/advanced lines and new introductions as parents in the crossing block. Oat introductions from other states or international nurseries are observed and evaluated as potential parents in our program. The F3 and F4 generations are routinely selected and advanced as a modified bulk. Starting in F5, individual panicles are harvested to be planted as head-rows. A. Specific disease resistance goals: Advanced lines, relatively resistant to oat diseases affecting California production, are used as parental source for resistance. We seek resistance mainly to BYD and CYD, but also to crown rust, stem rust, and leaf blotch. Germplasm from Illinois, which has a robust program for BYD resistance, is now well integrated in our program. The complex BYDV/CYDV is probably the most serious threat to oat production in CA. Over the last twenty years, the oat improvement program at the University of Illinois focused on improving resistance to BYD using the PAV serotype. Illinois lines expressing reduced symptoms for red leaf at UC Davis have been used in a wide array of crosses, especially to the new UCD lines in an effort to combine the resistances developed by the Illinois and California programs. Results so far indicate that a high level of resistance is not available but that some progress can be achieved. 2

3 B. Agronomic goals: Agronomic selection is primarily focused on improving time to heading/maturity (earliness), culm thinness, height and lodging resistance. Introductions to be used as parents for agronomic traits: IL , IL , IL2858, IL3587, IL3555, AR25-8-2, TAMU 406, FL0047-J9, and FL B-31; Argentinean cv. B.I Yapa and advanced line Bw 831 (highest grain yield in last years replicated experiments); and Brazilian cv. Taura Earliness This is a desirable trait to fit oat into different crop rotations (e.g., rotation with rice). Montezuma, the earliest California cultivar, has been used in an array of crosses to Illinois lines. Given its susceptibility to major diseases, Brazilian and Argentinean sources of earliness, and more productive lines, are now the replacement to Montezuma to introgress this trait. Culm thinness and lodging resistance The persistence of the oat varieties Cal Red and Montezuma as favorites among oat growers is related to their thinness of stems, which makes them more palatable to the livestock. Seven of the eight new UCD oat varieties (Qualset et al., 2012) have thick culms. All the latest oat releases have good resistance to lodging except the thin-stemmed UC 142, which is listed as having fair resistance to lodging. Thickness of stems is associated to resistance to lodging whereas thinness of stem is linked to increased palatability and lodging. Montezuma and Cal Red have poor and very poor resistance, respectively, to lodging. The relationship between culm thickness and resistance to lodging needs to be optimized through genetic control of stature and earliness as well as stem thickness itself. Height Of the eight new UCD oat releases, four are listed as short and one is listed as very short. Among the other cultivars, two (UC 128 and UC 129) are identified as very tall and only UC 148 is identified as tall or as having a stature similar to Montezuma and Cal Red. The goal is to optimize height, thinness and/or thickness of stem, and resistance to lodging. For irrigated grain production, thick stems would be desired. Tall lines might be more suitable to dry land farming. Thus, several differing plant types are needed to cover all potential end-uses and environments. 3

4 JUSTIFICATION: California is one of the states with more acreage planted to oat (120,000 acres in 2015; 110,000 acres in 2016) in the US (USDA: pdf). Most of this acreage is used for animal feeding as forage/hay/green chop, with only 10,000 acres harvested for grain. UC Foundation Seed and seed companies with UC licenses are able to sell new oat seed each year because 90% of the oat grown in California is consumed as forage, hay or green chop; only 10% of the oat planted is harvested for grain. UC Foundation Seed sells out its seed stock almost every year. Oat improvement via breeding in California has been discontinuous. In the US, there is a small network of oat research scientists, producers, and millers who are represented by the North American Millers Assoc., the National Oat Improvement Committee (NOIC), the USDA, and a few public Universities, which support oatbreeding programs. The most popular Californian oat variety Montezuma, released in 1969, is very susceptible to many foliar diseases and to lodging. Montezuma is vulnerable to stem rust, powdery mildew, and leaf blotch, very susceptible to crown rust and BYD. A replacement for Montezuma is a high priority. Most of the newly released UCD oat cultivars are susceptible to at least one major disease (crown rust, stem rust, leaf blotch, or BYD) and are late or very late to mature (Qualset et al., 2012). None of the new UCD oat lines has the earliness and thin-straw characteristics to replace Montezuma. Finding support to the Oat program at UCD has not been successful so far, only the CCIA funding maintains the program alive. UC ANR does not support our program and there is no organization that represents oat growers. Oat plantings are dispersed statewide without any identifiable concentration of growers. Economic benefits from oat production as hay, forage, or green chop are confounded with triticale or other crops and total oat valuation is underestimated. Forage production is not appealing to Quaker Oats as a donor, although, since two years ago, has been collaborating with us by sending their Quaker International Nursery with around 300 entries. National oat acreage continues in decline although California has a rather constant planted area. 4

5 BUDGET: EXPENDITURE CATEGORY REQUESTED FUNDS General Assistance and Labor (planting, harvesting, threshing) $5, Supplies and expenses (related to planting, harvesting, and threshing) including land usage costs at $650/ac. $2, Equipment (Planting and harvesting), fertilization, irrigation, herbicide application $2, Partial Salary: del Blanco $2, Total $10, The funding from the California Crop Improvement Association is the only support for the UCD oat-breeding program. We thank the CCIA for considering this request, as well as for all the support received in previous years. REFERENCES: Qualset, C., P.K. Zwer, L. Federizzi, J. Heaton, H.E. Vogt, L.F. Jackson and D. Putnam Enhancing Diversity and Productivity of the California Oat Crop: Eight New Varieties. UC Davis, Agronomy Progress Report - Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension. Report No. 305, May f_the_california_oat_crop.pdf APPROVALS: Isabel Alicia del Blanco Small Grains Breeder Plant Sciences, UC Davis Chair of Plant Sciences Dept. Plant Sciences 5