Oat is a major cereal crop important to human and animal diets. A successful oat harvest is highly dependent on osmotic stress, which in turn may be affected by drought or soil salinity. Most oat cultivars are moderately tolerant to such stresses, but soil salinity can decrease oat seed germination and stunt subsequent development in some cultivars.

Due to the complexity of the salt tolerance trait, traditional breeding has hitherto been unsuccessful in oat improvement. Hesham F. Oraby, of Michigan State University, and colleagues take the first step in genetic enhancement of the crop as they find that “Barley HVA1 Gene Confers Salt Tolerance in R3 Transgenic Oat.” Their work is published in the Crop Science journal.

Researchers introduced three genes into oat: HVA1, from barley, for stress tolerance; B-glucoronidase; and the bar herbicide resistance gene. An analysis of the transgenic plants showed that the genes had been stably transferred and expressed. The plants also showed increased tolerance to salt stress conditions, as well as better growth during the recovery period. Researchers also found that higher salinity levels significantly reduced plant growth of both transgenic and control plants

Subscribers to Crop Science can download the article at http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/6/2218. Other readers can take a look at the abstract at http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/45/6/2218.

Source: CropBiotech Update