Oat Breeding Program at the Institute of Agriculture “Obraztcov Chiflik”, Ruse, Bulgaria
Galina Panayotova
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Institute of Agriculture and Seed Science
“Obraztcov Chiflik”, Ruse 7007, Bulgaria
Phone & Fax: ( 359 82) 225 898 / ( 359 82) 225 734
E-mail: gpanayotova@dir.bg
The Institute of Agriculture and Seed Science “Obraztcov Chiflik” at Ruse develops and releases improved spring and winter oat varieties for the farmers and the food industry. The oat breeding program is focused on improving agronomically important traits in oat: yield potential, grain quality, tolerance to environmental and biotic stress, as well as milling, feed and hay end-use quality, and disease resistance in both naked and hulled oat varieties.
Oat is one of the important grain and fodder crops in Bulgaria. Short-strawed oat varieties with good straw strength are not as suited for forage and fodder varieties as they are for the food industry. The privatization of agriculture in recent years has brought an increase in consumer demands for oats with enhanced quality and broader adaptability. All of this dictates the necessity for the creation and release of new oat varieties for Bulgarian producers..
Bulgaria’s oat breeding program is conducted at the Institute of Agriculture and Seed Science “Obraztsov Chiflik”- Ruse. Climatic conditions in Obraztcov Chiflik are extreme with cold temperatures during the winter months and drought during the summer. Thus, there is a need for the breeding of lines and varieties suitable for growing in many different environments throughout the country.
The aims of the oat breeding program are the creation of new varieties and perspective lines of spring and winter oat that combine improved disease resistance with higher yield and quality for growers, food processors, and animal production systems suitable for the specific environmental conditions of Bulgaria.
The Institute has, at its disposal, a very rich breeding collection that includes local varieties and populations, selection test lines, along with foreign varieties from the various public and private breeding programs. Cultivar development of spring and winter oat is through hybridization, then advancing early generations in bulked and pedigree nurseries, followed by performance testing of selected lines.
We express our sincere thanks to Dr. James B. Holland for his important contributions. We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Harold Bockelman for kindly providing germplasm materials.