Hybrids of Avena sativa with two diploid wild oats (CIav6956) and (CIav7233) resistant to crown rust

Two diploid accessions of wild oat, CIav6956 and CIav7233, were identified as carrying seedling resistance to oat crown rust (caused by Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae; Pca). Two vigorous interploidy F(1) hybrids were generated from crosses involving the hexaploid oat cultivar Wintaroo and the diploid oat Avena strigosa Schreb. accession CIav6956. An additional interploidy F(1) hybrid, designated F1-Aa1, was produced from a cross of Wintaroo and the diploid oat accession CIav7233. All three hybrids were more vigorous and taller than the cultivated parent Wintaroo. The three F(1) hybrids contained full chromosome complements from both parents (2n = 4x = 28), but no seeds were obtained when the three F(1) hybrids were selfed. Meiotic analyses of the hybrids indicated that they exhibited a high degree of inter-genome and intra-genome pairing. Trivalent configurations were detected in 95-96% of meiotic cells and a minimum of three bivalents was present in all cells. An average chiasma frequency of 7.2-7.9 per cell was observed for the three F(1) hybrids. A fourth F(1) hybrid was subsequently generated from a cross between the diploid oat accession CIav7233 and Wintaroo. One octaploid (2n = 8x = 56) was generated from this hybrid and progeny were resistant to two Pca races. The chromosome number of the octaploid progeny varied between 51 and 54 chromosomes. Development of a chromosome addition line(s) with the crown rust resistance should be possible from these partial-octaploids.