'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 BREEDING OATS FOR ANIMAL FEED A.A. COWAN, J. VALENTINE IGER, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EB, Wales

Oat breeding at IGER is developing oat varieties which have end use characteristics suitable for human consumption and also for feeding to ruminants and monogastrics whilst remaining economically competitive and environmentally sustainable.  Livestock have differing requirements.  For ruminant feeds, breeding is directed towards thin-husked oats with high digestibility. For monogastrics, the husk is detrimental hence naked oat lines with increased levels of oil up to 15% are being produced.  The introduction of a dwarf gene that does not suppress naked expression allows targeted N applications as a route to increased grain protein content.  Work underway on the identification of molecular markers for various traits eg oil and production of oat maps will facilitate the breeding of new improved varieties.