ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing the Understanding of Genotype-Environment Interaction for Yield Stability and Adaptability in Crop BreedingView all 5 articles
Stay-green trait improves yield, quality, and feeding value of forage oats under contrasting eco-sowing systems
Provisionally accepted
- Qinghai University School of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Xining, China
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Oat (Avena sativa L.) is an important food and forage crop whose yield and quality are influenced by genotype, environmental conditions, and sowing regimes. The stay-green (SG) trait, which delays leaf senescence and maintains photosynthetic capacity, can enhance yield and forage quality; however, systematic evaluation in oat remains limited. In this study, two genotypes—Qingyan 3 and its stay-green mutant—were evaluated over two consecutive years (2023–2024) at Huangzhong, Qinghai and Yuanmou, Yunnan under contrasting eco-sowing conditions. The control (CK) was the dual-purpose cultivar Qingyan 3, while the stay-green mutant (SG) was developed through field-based phenotypic selection and long-term cultivation, resulting in a stable trait. Yield, nutritional composition, forage value, and stability were evaluated. The effects of genotype, environment, and sowing regime were compared using linear mixed models (LMM), the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The stay-green genotype (SG) showed significantly higher biomass, grain yield, starch, protein, and fat contents than the control (CK). It also had lower fiber fractions—acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF)—and higher values for digestibility indicators, including dry matter intake (DMI), digestible dry matter (DDM), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV), and relative forage quality (RFQ). Pronounced environmental and inter-annual effects were observed, with warm, low-latitude conditions favoring higher yield, while cool, high-altitude conditions enhanced nutritional composition and forage quality. Overall, multi-trait evaluations showed that the SG genotype outperformed the CK in yield and quality, while CK exhibited slightly greater stability across environments. SG combines high yield and superior quality, providing valuable germplasm for oat improvement. These findings highlight the stay-green (SG) trait as valuable germplasm for oat improvement. Furthermore, selecting genotypes according to ecological zones can enhance both forage yield and quality, supporting sustainable livestock production.
Keywords: oat, Stay-green, eco-sowing systems, yield, quality
Received: 20 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Duan, Wu, Wang, Zhang, Hu, Liang and Wenhui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guoling Liang
Liu Wenhui
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