DisplayTitle

Effects of Genotype and Environment on the Starch Properties and End-Product Quality of Oats¹

¹Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Rd., Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2M9. Contribution no. 1888. ²Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, 195 Dafoe Rd., Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2M9. ³Corresponding author. Phone: 204-983-1461. Fax: 204-983-4604. E-mail: names@agr.gc.ca ⁴Canadian International Grains Institute, 1000-303 Main St., Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 3G7. ⁵Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Morden Research Station, Unit 100-101 Route 100, Morden, MB, Canada R6M 1Y5.

Five Canadian oat genotypes were grown at six environments in Manitoba to assess the effects of genotype, environment, and genotype-by-environment interaction on oat starch properties and end-product quality. Genotypic variation was significant for total starch, amylose content, starch swelling volume (SSV), Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) pasting viscosities, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermal properties, and starch gel texture as well as the quality of flakes and cooked oatmeal made by laboratory-scale methodologies. Environment was the dominant factor contributing to the total variation of starch content, RVA pasting viscosities, SSV, and DSC thermal properties. Most measurements of starch gel and oatmeal texture were not affected by growing environment. Cross-over analysis revealed that changes in the ranking of genotypes across environments occurred for starch RVA hot paste, breakdown and shear thinning viscosities, work of gel compression, flake hydration capacity, and the proportion of large flakes, indicating that breeding for these traits would require multiple testing sites. Trends were observed between oatmeal texture and several flake and starch gel properties, warranting further study. Results of this study indicated that there is a potential to breed Canadian oat cultivars with improved functional end-product quality for use in the milling and food manufacturing industries.