Browsing by Author "Lassi, Juho"

Oat (Avena Sativa L.) has been second most cultivated crop in Finland. Oat has been Finland’s most exported grain for several years and its use for human consumption has increased because of dietary benefits. Oat is well suited for northern growing conditions and there has been long tradition for oat breeding in Finland. High yield has been important breeding goal but because the new use purposes, also other quality parameters have more attention in breeding. According to statistics, the average oat yield was 3293 kg/ha in years 2002-2016. The average yields have not changed in past 15 years in farm level. Yield and quality formation of four Finnish oat varieties (Iiris, Meeri, Niklas ja Steinar) and two Central-European oat varieties (Canyon and Harmony) was studied during growing season 2016. The field experiment was carried out at Elimäki in southern Finland. Different characteristics were measured and calculated during the growing season. Dry matter accumulation, growing rhythm, lodging and plant height were determined. Also yield, harvest index, grain filling rate, grading, thousand kernel weight and other quality parameters were determined. Suitability for milling use were studied from the oat varieties. Study was conducted in field as a completely randomized plot experiment with three replicants. Number of growing days correlated positively with yield. The last maturated varieties, Canyon, Harmony and Iiris, produced highest yield and best quality. These highest yielding varieties did not thoug have the highest harvest index. Length of grain filling period correlated positively with thousand kernel weight and grading result which all are also important quality features for oat milling industry. A correlation between grain size and hectoliter weight was not observed in this study.