I.  QUAKER INTERNATIONAL OAT NURSERY 

ANNUAL REPORT- 1998

History and Description of Current Efforts¹

The research project entitled "Breeding Oat Cultivars Suitable for Production in Developing Countries" was formally established in 1974 by Dr. H. L. Shands, Emeritus Professor of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin, with funding provided by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development.  The USAID grant provided funds through 1976, and The Quaker Oats Company assumed funding responsibilities for the project after the USAID grant expired.  Since 1976, most of this oat improvement work has been centered in southern South America because the Quaker Oats Company has milling operations there. Currently, the major thrust of this oat improvement effort is in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay.

 During the past 24 years, the Quaker project has made significant contributions toward developing oat production for the primary growing areas in South America.  In the mid-1970's, Brazil imported most commercial oats from Argentina, but currently most oats utilized in Brazil are produced in Brazil.  Argentina continues to produce milling oats, and the Quaker milling oat situation in Argentina has improved significantly in recent years.  South Central Chile is an excellent oat production area that is capable of producing commercial oat yields as high as 200 bu/a (7168 kg/ha).  El Globo, which has a subsidiary agreement with Quaker in Chile, has increased its oat milling output and efficiency considerably in recent years.

 The principal activities of the Quaker International Oat Nursery coordinators (Quaker Team) have centered on developing and distributing a number of pure lines and a series of F₂ or F₃ segregating populations.  These pure lines and segregating populations are grown in a number of locations in South and North America each year.  Data are collected on the pure lines and segregating populations by cooperators at each location.  Location reports are submitted to the project coordinators who summarize the results included in annual reports. 

 This annual report covers project work conducted in 1998.  In past years, the Quaker Team has made a 3-week trip to South America each November to visit a number of the testing locations.  At each location, the coordinators view the material, make recommendations to nursery cooperators, and view oat production in the area.  In 1998, nurseries were visited in Entre Rios, Passo Fundo and El Dorado in Brazil; Barrow, Chacabuco, Bordenave and Parana in Argentina; La Estanzuela in Uruguay; and Temuco and Carillanca in Chile.  Grower fields surrounding these nursery locations were also visited.

 Observations made by the coordinators on the trip, along with data submitted by South American cooperators, are used to formulate the list of approximately 100 pure lines included in each year's nursery.  Previously, one-third to two-thirds of the pure lines were repeated from the previous year, with the remaining pure lines being new entries that were:  1) collected on trips to South America, 2) developed at Texas A & M or Wisconsin, or 3) submitted from other oat programs for a specific purpose such as resistance to crown rust or tolerance to the barley yellow dwarf virus. Currently, the intent is to have more turnover among the pure line portion of the nursery with the repeats being mainly the selected lines from recent nurseries which have an acceptable rust reaction at all South American locations where crown rust was present.  Most of the new pure line entries are included because they seem to possess some slow rusting capabilities. As noted in the 1997 report we are attempting to utilize slow rusting germplasm in initiating the segregating populations after the slow rusting reaction of potential parents has been confirmed. 

 Last year a number of changes were initiated in the Quaker International Oat Program. Some of the changes were made, in part, to recognize and take advantage of the oat hybrid-making capacity of the South American breeders. The germplasm activities including packaging and distributing the seed are now primarily the responsibility of Dr. R.D. Barnett, small grain breeder at the North Florida Experiment Station in Quincy, Fla. He will also take advantage of the unique environmental conditions in greenhouses at his location to make most of the initial “spring x winter” crosses.  Such crosses should enable exploiting the genetic diversity existing between these two mostly distinct gene pools.  These F₁ seeds will be immediately sent to Aberdeen, Idaho, for F₁ plant growout under the supervision of Dr. Darrel Wesenberg. The F₂ seed will be returned to Barnett so that he can make three-way crosses, either with F₂ plants or residual F₁ spring x winter crossed seed.  The "third" parent will be a locally adapted line from either a South or North American breeding program.

This approach, when fully implemented, will result in the F₂ or F₃ segregating populations in the Quaker International Oat Nursery being more adapted and useful to individual breeding programs because 50% of the parentage of the 3-way cross will usually be an advanced line from that location. Similarly, it is envisioned that using advanced lines from North American programs as parents of other 3-way combinations will provide useful segregating populations for those locations as well.

 The switch from major gene immune type reactions to a broader based slow rusting resistance has been proceeding well.  Putative slow rusters have given relatively adequate protection from crown rust in the several South American locations where protection from crown rust is a priority.  Interest in slow rusting has also been increasing in North America as major genes continue to be defeated by new virulences of crown rust. 

 More details of these changes can be found in the 1997 report under the heading of “Integrated Oat Research Program for South America. This newly proposed program was approved by Quaker-South America management and by South American oat researchers after conversations following the Third South American Oat Conference in Colonia, Uruguay in November, 1997.

 It is important to note that changes have recently also been made in the policy for utilization of oat germplasm in the Quaker International Oat Nursery.  Further, the procedures for release of Quaker Nursery materials have been revised.  Please see Section II, starting on page 4, for details currently in force.