EVALUATION OF OAT LINES IN ONLY ONE REPLICATION

Abstract

Because of the importance of saving resources devoted to genotypic evaluation, an study was designed to measure the efficiency of the evaluation in one in relation to two replicates, of 529 F₅ derived lines of oats (Avena sativa L.) from each of two populations in F₃. The evaluation of each population was conducted in an experiment with two replicates in four environments. The criteria used to measure the efficiency were: correlations with the genotypic values, genetic gains from selection, percentages of superior lines that were retained when discard of lines was practiced which indicated that: Selection was efficient on the basis of one replicate and that success from selection was more dependent upon the genetic material being tested and the type of environment than from the number of replicates.