Hay yield and quality of oat (Avena sativa L.) genotypes of worldwide origin

Oat (Avena sativa L.) traditionally has been a major crop for feed and forage in Turkey. Theobjective of this research was to study hay yield and quality of oat genotypes harvested at thelate milk stage. One hundred oat varieties of worldwide origin were compared in fieldexperiments in Samsun (northern Turkey) over two growing seasons (2007-2008 and 2008-2009).Significant differences between the tested oat varieties were observed for the plant height, hayyield, crude protein (CP), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), totaldigestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV) and macro minerals (Ca, K, P and Mg).Plant height varied from 76.2 to 141.2 cm, hay yield from 6.03 to 11.83 t ha-1, crude proteinfrom 58.8 to 136.4 g kg-1 dry matter (DM), acid detergent fibre from 333.2 to 424.8 g kg-1 DMand neutral detergent fibre from 522.5 to 652.4 g kg-1 DM. The TDN ranged from 465.1 to583.3 g kg-1 and relative feed value from 80.9 to 112%. Cluster analysis grouped the 100genotypes within 7 clusters, each of which having 17, 21, 13, 12, 20, 12 and 5 genotypes. Sisko,Akiyutaka, Longchamp, Sanova, Flämingslord, Matra and Revisor were identified as the highhay yield potential genotypes. However, quality traits of these genotypes were lower than someof other genotypes. Furthermore, while some macro minerals were insufficient, others were inexcess regarding healthy feeding. Hence, some form of commercial mineral supplement wouldbe required to oat-based ration or oat should be grown in mixtures with legumes for feedingproductive livestock.