Genetic drought resistance of modern oat varieties as a response to global climate change

Abstract

Abstract. Purpose. To assess the drought resistance of modern varieties of oats at the initial stage of ontogenesis by laboratory method. Methods. The following varieties of oats have been studied: Foma, Otrada, Talisman, Marshal, Ekspress, Assol’, Tigrovy and Petrovich. Relative drought resistance was determined by simulating drought by increasing the osmotic pressure with different concentrations of sucrose: 1.4; 4.4; 7.4; 10.5 and 16.6 %. This corresponded to osmotic pressures of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 atm. Distilled water was used as a control. The response of varieties to drought was determined by seed germination and depression of growth processes. Results. It was found that the varieties Talisman and Petrovich are characterized by very low resistance to drought – at an osmotic pressure of 3 atm, their germination was 29 and 52%, respectively. With a further increase in pressure, only single germinations with a very high degree of depression (more than 80%) were noted. Oat variety Ekspress was characterized by maximum resistance to drought. Its seeds germinated when the osmotic pressure increased to 12 atm (sucrose concentration reached 10.5 %). To a small extent, the Foma variety was inferior to it, which germinated worse than Ekspress, but had an average degree of depression of growth processes at an osmotic pressure of 3 to 12 atm. The rest of the studied oat varieties were moderately drought-resistant both in terms of germination and depression. Scientific novelty. The conducted analysis of variance showed that the relative drought resistance by 72 % depends on the concentration of sucrose, which indicates the inefficiency of the assessment by one concentration. The share of influence of a variety on genetically determined drought resistance is 10.3 %. This confirms the hypothesis that drought resistance is determined not only by genetic inheritance. It is recommended to use varieties Foma and Ekspress as parental forms in breeding for drought resistance.