Genetic diversity in different accessions of oat (Avena sativa L.)

Abstract. The objective of this study was to study genetic diversity among winter oat accessions by using multivariate analyses: hierarchical cluster and principal component (PC) analyses. The study was conducted in the Institute of Agriculture, Karnobat, during the period 2005 – 2011. Oat germplasm consisting of 25 genotypes was evaluated for length of vegetation period, winter resistance, lodging resistance, plant height, length of panicle, number of spikelets and grain in 1 panicle, grain weight per panicle,1000-grain weight. The Dunav 1 variety was used for comparison as a standard for winter oats. There was a significant genetic diversity among the studied accessions, which allows selection of appropriate parents with characters In the direction of early ripening the accessions: РА 7606-51, РА 7307-70 and NC 79-43; low stem: РА 7409-151, РА 7915-1342, РА 8019-1; lodging resistance: РА 7507-14, РА 7219-19, РА 7617-3460 may be included as suitable sources. The best combination of agronomically valuable traits was established for accessions: РА 7617-3658, РА 8014-1356 and РА 7603-7. Panicle length, number of spikelets and grain in the panicle, weight of grain in one panicle and 1000-grain weight were the important traits in differentiating the genotype