Genetic resources in nordic oat varieties ( Avena sativa L.) for future breeding purposes

The last hundred years of cultivating nordic oat has led to an array of varieties. It is a common view that intensive breeding leeds to loss of vairation. Through an investigation of genetic diversity found in oat varieties of different ages, ranging from landraces to recent varieties, we evaluate this hypothesis. Using molecular markers, which are considered neutral in respect of selection (microsatellites), we measure the amount of overall variation found in the varieties and compare these findings with the amount of variation found in six different agronomical characters. This comparison will reveal what happens with the genetic diversity of oat varieties during intensified breeding. Preliminary results show high levels of among variety diversity when viewing microsatellite data in both old landraces and present varieties, while this seems not to be the case in the results from agronomical characters. This indicates that the overall variation is not declining even if deliberate selection pressure is placed upon the crop, and variation in the genetic resourses connected to the specific agronomical characters is reduced.