Session IV. Crop Physiology and Production Methods of Oats Chairman’s Comments and Summing Up

Abstract

The first two papers in this session dealt with identification and elucidation of physiological parameters that impact oat productivity. Both authors emphasized the need to utilise these physiological parameters as selection criteria in plant breeding programmes to improve oat productivity, Brouwer suggested that growth and development patterns of oats might be manipulated to improve productivity of oat genotypes. The utilisation of variation for such physiological response should lead to the development of cultivars which are more tolerant of environmental stresses or have a developmental pattern that permits them to escape some of the critical stress periods. He encouraged the use of physiological parameters such as rootishoot ratio, seedling vigour, harvest index, photosynthetic activity, leaf area duration and growth rates as selection criteria to be used in oat breeding programmes.