Responses to Selection for Partial Resistance to Crown Rust in Oat

Crown rust, caused by the fungal pathogen, Puccinia coronata Corda var. avenae W.P. Fraser Ledingham, reduces kernel quality and grain yield in oat (Avena sativa L.). Partial resistance is considered to be a durable form of rust resistance. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of simultaneously improving partial resistance to crown rust, grain yield, and seed weight in an oat population, and to estimate predicted and realized heritabilities for area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and genetic correlations between AUDPC and agronomic traits in both crown rust-inoculated and fungicide-treated plots. A single cycle of selection for partial resistance to crown rust was performed. The initial (C0) and selected (C1) generations were evaluated in a field experiment in 2001 and 2002 at two Iowa locations. Selection on an index increased the levels of crown rust resistance, grain yield, and seed weight in crown rust−inoculated plots, and seed weight in fungicide-treated plots. However, the change for the grain yield in fungicide-treated plots was not significant. In both C0 and C1 populations, AUDPC was highly heritable (H = 0.77 and 0.78 respectively), and was favorably correlated with grain yield, seed weight, and test weight measured in inoculated plots. Realized heritabilities for all traits except grain yield under fungicide treatment were consistent with predicted heritabilities. Our results suggested that index selection could increase levels of crown rust resistance, grain yield, and seed weight simultaneously.