Relation of seed weight to grain yields in oats, Avena sativa L.
SummaryWe measured yielding ability and weight per 100 seeds in 7 populations of oat lines, each derived from a different cross. The association between these two traits was curvilinear, with maximum yields occurring when 100-seed weights were between 2.75 and 3.10 g.In a simulated selection experiment conducted on a bulk population of 150 oat lines (i.e. only lines with seed weight between 2.75 and 3.10 g per 100 seeds were saved), the proportion of superior yielding lines was increased from 16% in the original to 32% in the new one. In the 100-seed weight class below 2.75 g, the proportion of high yielding lines was only 5%.
Mass selection for seed width in oat populations
Heterogeneous and segregating oat populations subjected to no selection and to mass selection for seed width for five consecutive generations were evaluated for 100-seed weight, heading date and plant height.The mass-selection technique, which consisted of passing the seeds over a screen with 12.7×2.4 mm slots and propagating the seeds too wide to go through the slots, was repeated for five consecutive generations (F3 through F7). Comparable unselected populations were grown each year. Remnant seeds from each check and mass-selected population were stored for future studies.In 1963, 500 random seeds from each of the six unselected populations (F2 through F7), from each of the five mass-selected populations (F3 through F7) and from a pure line were space-planted in the field. In 1964, the progenies from 75 random strains (a strain was the progeny of one spaced plant) from each of the 12 populations were sown in a randomized-block experiment with three replicates. In 1966, the strains from the last (F7) generation of the unselected and mass-selected lines of descent (75 strains from each) were tested for yield in a 7-replicate randomized block experiment.The mass-selection technique increased the mean 100-seed weight, whereas in the unselected line of descent, the mean 100-seed weight did not change. The mean heading dates became later and the mean plant heights taller with the mass-selection procedure. The mean yield of the final mass-selection population was nine percent higher than that of the comparable unselected population.In spite of the associated changes between 100-seed weight and plant height and heading date in successive generations; the genotypic correlations among strains within populations indicated that these three traits were inherited independently. In advanced generations (F6 and F7), the genotypic variances for heading date and 100-seed weight were reduced in both the unselected and mass-selected lines of descent, whereas, for plant height no significant change occurred in either.
PULSE: a high-repetition-rate linac driver for x-ray FELs
We describe a staged concept for a linac-based freeelectron laser providing coherent tuneable VUV and soft X-ray output with pulse lengths down to 10 fs or less. Use of 1.3 GHz cryomodules operated with CW RF will allow flexible pulse patterns at potentially very high repetition rates up to 1 MHz. We consider the options for FELs that may be included in a facility of this type.