The oat gene pools – review about the use of wild species in improving cultivated oat

Abstract

The search for agronomic traits and the use of new sources of variability in oat farming is very important in terms of breeding. Wild species of Avena are grouped into three gene pools depending on their interfertility with cultivated hexaploid oat. The primary and tertiary gene pools are extensive and diverse, the secondary gene pool is relatively small and poorly represented in ex situ gene banks. Appropriate wild species are a valuable source of many appropriate traits such as: high protein, oil, ß-glucan and balanced amino acids composition contents in grain; short culm; cold and drought tolerance. Moreover they are a source of resistance genes for oat diseases, such as powdery mildew, crown and stem rust, smuts or BYDV. Note, however transfer of genes from wild to cultivated species is a long and laborious process. These types of methods are used in the species Avena with various end effects. The purpose of this article was to collect information on attempts of transferring different genes from wild oat species to cultivated oats.