Selection for Linoleic Acid Concentration Among Progeny of a High ✕ Low Linoleic Acid Oat Cross1

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Abstract
The objective of this investigation was to study the effect of early generation selection on linoleic acid concentration in oats (Avena sativa L.) using F6 families from a cross of oat lines with high and with low levels of linoleic acid. The F6 families were derived by single‐seed descent from nine F2 plants representing the range of linoleic acid concentrations measured in a 64‐plant F2 population from a ‘Sauk’ ✕ ‘Dal’ cross. In the F6, each selected F2 was represented by six lines. Differences among families and among lines within families were highly significant. The F2 linoleic acid concentrations accounted for 94% of the variation observed for linoleic acid among F6 families. The Castle‐Wright prediction of gene number for linoleic acid concentration was 1.5. These data indicate that in this cross, linoleic acid concentration was simply inherited with some genotypes fixed in the F2 generation. While oleic acid concentration was not used as a selection criterion, the strong negative relationship between linoleic and oleic acids made it possible to predict oleic concentration means of F6 families from F2 values. Single gene, multiple allele control of oleic‐linoleic acid concentrations has been found in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and in maize (Zea mays L.) and such a system may also exist in oat.