DECISION MAKING ON NITROGEN MANAGEMENT OF OAT (AVENA SATIVA) USING GRAIN YIELD POTENTIAL AND NITROGEN USE EFFICIENCY

Abstract

While oat is a major cold-climate cereal in Marmara region of Turkey, little is known about the nitrogen use efficiencies (NUE) of Turkish oat cultivars. This research aims to evaluate NUE, grain yield, and several agronomic traits of 5 oat cultivars in 5 nitrogen applications doses. Field trials were conducted in the Canakkale, Turkey for two growing seasons where NUE, grain yield, plant height, panicle length, grain number per panicle, and grain weight per panicle were determined. Results of variance analysis indicated statistical significance for year, genotype, N dose, and Genotype x N dose effects for all traits. New oat cultivars (Kahraman, Yeniceri, and Sebat) were found to have higher grain yield and NUE compared to the older cultivars (Chekota and Seydisehir). Grain yield response of each cultivar to the increasing N levels were further investigated with regression analysis and Princial Component Analysis (PCA) Biplot. Results suggested that Kahraman has the highest grain yield potential when Sebat and Yeniceri can be recommended for the higher N doses. We conclude that oat breeding efforts of the last decade may have contributed to higher NUE along with improving grain yield of oat cultivars in Turkey.