Improved export hay quality characters of oat

Abstract

Producing oat hay has increased across the southern region of Australia to meet growing export demand over the last five years. More than 500,000 t of oat hay was exported in 2003. Market growth is dependent on producing oat hay that is consistently palatable each year. During this time grading systems have been refined by hay processors to include water soluble carbohydrates (WSC), dry matter digestibility (DMD), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), and acid detergent fibre (ADF). There is increased emphasis in the breeding program to improve oat varieties for hay production. The outcomes of the breeding program are to release oat varieties with higher hay production, improved disease resistance, and enhanced hay quality. High DMD and WSC with low NDF and ADF combine to provide more consistently palatable oat hay for export markets. The study was conducted to determine if our hay quality evaluation strategy was effective and to assess if there were significant differences between a selected group of varieties and breeding lines for WSC, DMD, NDF, and ADF. Replicated hay quality data for 12 oat varieties and breeding lines were generated from two sites in South Australia and three replications in 2002. Hay samples were bulked from three replications for 11 varieties and breeding lines at nine sites in 2002. Hay quality was evaluated for 36 entries using three replications at three sites and 14 entries at one site in South Australia in 2003. Hay quality was also evaluated for 18 entries sown at three sites in Western Australia. NIR predictions for the WSC, DMD, NDF, ADF were provided by FEEDTEST® located in Hamilton, Victoria. Comparison of replicated data from limited sites and bulked samples from several sites showed the sampling error was greatest from the bulked samples. To achieve a sampling error of 5%, two replications were needed for WSC and ADF. Significant variety differences were found for DMD, WSC, NDF, and ADF in the first year. Quality results for 2003 will be presented at the conference.vokMyynti MTT tietopalvelu