Descriptors :
Avena sterilis,Oats,Germplasm,Adaptation,Wild gene pool
Abstract :
A sample of 457 wild oats (Avena sterilis L.) from the world collection maintained at the Germplasm Laboratory,Beltsville,Maryland,USA,was studied for variation of six seed characters via means,ranges,variances,and frequencies from various geographical areas.It was concuded that region-specific adaptations are responsible for occurrence of certin trait(s) in specific geographical regions,e.g,Libyan and Iraqi collections has high protein percentage,Israeli strains had high oil percentage and Middle East and Central Asian lines has a high number of spikelets per panicle.The main conclusion of interest here is that,within the same species,estimates of the amount of variation my vary widely,depending upon the area samled,geographical scale of sampling,etc.,presumably due to the complex interrelationship between genetic and ecologival factors.
