Speed breeding and early panicle harvest accelerates oat (Avena sativa L.) breeding cycles

Increasing the response to selection in plant breeding programs by reducing the time required to complete a generation of inbreeding can significantly shorten the time to release a cultivar. Recently, 'speed breeding' strategies that manage temperature, photoperiod, and micronutrients showed a significant reduction in time to inbreeding in several crops. The goal of this study was to determine if the speed breeding system can be effectively applied to oat (Avena sativa L.) for a single-seed descent breeding scheme and to determine if seeds can be harvested early with acceptable germination for breeding purposes. Two systems were evaluated using eight genetically diverse oat genotypes under speed breeding (22-h photoperiod) and normal growing conditions (16 h) in a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of treatments and three replications. Our results indicated a significant reduction in time for all the phenological stages evaluated when speed breeding was used, compared with normal growing conditions. In particular, the reduction in time to flowering date was 11 d (62 vs. 51 d on average). Germination evaluations indicated that by 21 d after flowering, it was possible to obtain acceptable germination levels for all genotypes evaluated. This should be of great importance in breeding systems where single-seed descent can be used.

Automated summary

The study showed that using a speed breeding system can significantly reduce the time required for inbreeding in plants, particularly in oats where early seed harvesting with acceptable germination levels is achievable, which is crucial for breeding systems utilizing single-seed descent.