BARKAT: A NEW HIGH FODDER YIELDING OAT ( AVENA SATIVA L.) VARIETY WITH BETTER NUTRITIONAL VALUE

Oats are utilized primarily as feed for domestic animals and is also fourth most important cereal crop of the world. The Fodder Research Center, Sargodha, used conventional breeding techniques to generate the general cultivar "Barkat" of oat ( Avena sativa L.). It will be launched in 2021. The "FRI-01" commercial cultivar is a highly uniform off spring of the crosses between parental accessions (No. 970 and No. 288) and subsequent selections in multiple segregating populations (F2 through F6) using pedigree procedures. The cultivar outperformed the commercial check "Sargodha-Oat 2011" by 10% and 12.76% in forage yield during 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 station trials, respectively, and by 13.32% in fodder yield during 2016-17 at the zonal level. It is a late-maturing green cultivar that produces light brown seed and has a tall, multi-tillering plant form. It gave 7.13% higher fodder yield during 2017-18 and 22.38% increase over check variety during 2018-19 in national trials. Forage qualities include high palatability (85%), protein content (10.6%), and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The flowers bloom roughly ten days after the reference variety. Barkat (FRI-01) sown on 1 st October and 15 th October gave highest fodder yield in comparison with other tested sowing dates while maximum green fodder yield 87 ton ha -1 at 80 kg per ha seed rate and 30 cm row spacing. Barkat (FRI-01) will be extremely valuable cultivars in both irrigated and desert region of Punjab Province due to its high yield, great palatability, higher protein contents than standard check, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. Also, the cultivar can serve as a parental line in future efforts to enhance oat genetics.


INTRODUCTION
The cereal fodder crop oat (Avena sativa L.) is widely cultivated in Pakistan, both in irrigated and dry areas.Oats (Avena sativa L. and Avena byzantina Koch) rank fifth (Dost, 1997) in terms of world production of cereals.Oats account for more than 35 percent of the land under forages in Pakistan.The species may quickly multiply, and it has the potential to yield a delicious, nutritious, and popular fodder crop.It's resistant to environmental challenges and can thrive in a variety of conditions (Niazi et al., 2020).It is often fed while still green, but it can also be fermented into silage or dried into hay for use during times of fodder scarcity.Animals seem to enjoy eating oat fodder because of its palatable texture and high nutritional value.Green fodder crops are usually harvested when they are about halfway through their flowering cycle, or later if possible, so that the most possible yield of green fodder can be obtained with the least amount of quality loss.It also aids in the maintenance of body weights, the improvement of health, and the enhancement of milk yield in milking cattle, all of which would otherwise drop drastically during the winter fodder lean seasons (Favre et al., 2019).Its straw is softer than wheat or barley and has more nutrients per serving.Equine, dairy, poultry, and young breeding animals all benefit from oats grain (Ahmad et al., 2020).In the winter, when only dry kharif cereal fodder and dry summer grasses are available, farmers face a fodder shortage.Improved cultivars and agronomic approaches can boost fodder yield per acre by a factor of two to three (Gorash et al., 2017).The dairy farming industry is currently experiencing a high demand for high fodder yielding oats varieties.To that end, scientists at the Fodder Research Institute in Sargodha bred a strain of oats called "Barkat" that is both incredibly nutritious and produces a lot of fodder.The purpose of this manuscript is to detail the qualities and practical applications of Barkat for widespread cultivation in the Punjab.The approved variety under consideration is good news for the feed crop industry.Potentially beneficial effects include increased income for fodder farmers and the dairy farming community as well as increased milk and meat production from livestock.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Barkat (FRI-01) was developed via pedigree selection of multiple segregating populations (F2-F6) resulting from a hybrid between parental accessions No.970 and No.288.Table 1 provides a snapshot of the number of cultivars in each generation and their respective stages of development.To increase the homozygosity in each generation, the spikes of certain plants were covered with Kraft paper bags to encourage self-pollination.At the F6 generation level, there was a great deal of homogeneity among the chosen offspring.Station and zonal trials were undertaken from 2014 to 2017, with quality assurance checks, and the results showed that the advanced breeding line with the code name "FRI-01" had superior qualities compared to the other progeny.Under adaptation yield studies, it was measured against the check variety "Sgd.Oats.2011" over multiple areas in the Punjab province in 2017-2019.The Deputy Director Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, Sargodha was provided with seed from the promising line "FRI-01" and the check variety "Sgd.Oats.2011" in order to carry out "DUS" trials in the growing seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21.At National Uniform Fodder Yield Trials held across the country in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the promising line 'FRI-01' was put through its paces.Barkat, a new cultivar of oats, has been described.To determine the best timing to seed the promising line "FRI-01" for fodder production, trials were conducted at the Fodder Research Institute in Sargodha from 15 September 15 December, at 15-day intervals, during the crop years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
Throughout the 2018-19 and 2019-20, growing seasons, researchers observed how 'FRI-01' responded to varying concentrations of fertilizer, seed rates, and row distances.We were able to collect and compare data on a number of morphological, fodder yield, and quality parameters of FRI-01.Quality parameters comprised palatability, protein contents (%), and crude fiber (%), ash (%), crude fat (%) and NFE (%) while yield traits included green fodder yield (tons ha -1 ), plant height (cm), number of leaves per tiller, leaf length (cm), leaf width (cm), leaf color, number of tillers plant - 1 , and days to 50% blooming.Ca, Mg and zinc (%) were also studied Breeding History: At the Fodder Research Institute in Sargodha, Pakistan, used the pedigree selection approach to create the promising line FRI-01 by crossing the native germplasm selections No.970 and No.288.The F1 generation was space-planted and mass-harvested to obtain sufficient seed for the F2 generation.

2009-10
The F2 generation was space-planted, and then 150 plants were chosen at random to have their seeds collected independently.2010-11 2011-12 Each plant progeny were space-planted in a row for the F3 and F4 generation, and again the best plants were hand-picked.

2012-13
In the F5 generation, the best progeny were singled out by planting a small number of carefully chosen plants in a grid.

2013-14
In the F6 generation, we made the choice to adopt a uniform family.The Deputy Director of the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Agency in Sargodha was provided with seed from the promising line "FRI-01" and the check variety "Sgd.Oats.2011" in order to carry out "DUS" trials in the coming growing seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21).

Fodder Yield Performance Trials:
The results of station testing, adaptation trials, and the National Uniform Fodder Yield Trials of the 'FRI-01' line are detailed below.Experiments at several areas using the promising line FRI-01.The production of green forage at the Punjab level is indicated in Tables 5 and 6.A higher yield of green fodder was produced by the Line FRI-01 than the check variety by a margin of 22.38%.9.

Summary of Fodder Yield Trials
Seed Rate and Row Spacing Trials: Between 2018-19 and 2019-20, the promising line 'FRI-01' was sown at various seeding rates and row spacings for optimal forage output.The average yield of green forage for both years is shown in Table 9.
The results (Table-10) revealed that the promising line 'FRI-01' produced maximum green fodder yield (87 t/ha) at 80 kg/ha seed rate and 30 cm row spacing followed by 67 kg/ha seed rate and 30 cm row spacing which produced 84 t/ha green fodder.Results show that line FRI-01 is more tolerant than check variety.

Disease Infestation:
The line 'FRI-01' was evaluated against the major disease i.e. rust during the years 2019-20 and 2020-21 and their behavior is given in Table 13.
Quality Analysis: Dry matter, protein content, dietary fibre, and Ash were measured for both the promising line 'FRI-01' and the local check variety 'Sgd.Oats.2011 (Table-14).(* Bio Chemistry Section, AARI, Faisalabad) Crude protein, crude fat, and ash levels in the promising line "FRI-01" are all higher than in the check variety "Sgd.Oats.2011,"demonstrating that this line has a higher nutrient value.

Table13
Response of FRI-01 along with check variety to Rust.Moderately resistant), The findings showed that the 'FRI-01' line has average rust resistance.

Table 2 : Station/ Regular Green Fodder Yield Trial (2014-15).
Performance of FRI-01 in Station Yield Trial during the Year 2014-2015 at Fodder Research Institute Sargodha Green fodder production from the line 'FRI-01' was, on average, 10.05 percent higher than that from the check variety'Sgd.Oats.2011'.

Table 3 . Performance of FRI-01in Station Yield Trial during the Year 2015-16 at Fodder Research Institute, Sargodha.
On an average, the line 'FRI-01' gave 12.76 % higher green fodder yield than the check variety'Sgd.Oats.2011

Table 4 .
Performance of FRI-01 under Adaptation/ Zonal Green Fodder Yield Trial.

Table 8 . Comparison of Green Fodder Yield Related Parameters of Line 'FRI-01' with Check Variety 'Sgd.Oats.2011'.
According on the data in the table, the 'FRI-01' line outperforms the 'Sgd.Oats.2011'control variety in terms of plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, and number of tillers per plant.

Table 9 . Effect of Date of Sowing on Green fodder Yield of "FRI-01".
In comparison to other sowing dates, the promising line 'FRI-01' sown on the 1st and 15th of October provided the highest yield of green forage, as shown in Table

Table 10 . Effect of different seed rates and row spacing on fodder yield (t/ha) of "FRI-01".
Table 11 displays the results of a two-year study (2018-19 and 2019-20) of the promising line 'FRI-01' and its response to varying doses of fertilizer.Table 11's data on green fodder yield shows that the promising line "FRI-01" responds best to a dose of 114-84-62 NPK kg/ha, as it produced the most green fodder (75.19 t/ha) with this dose.

Insect-Pests and Disease Reaction Insect Pest Reaction:
The major insect of Oats is aphid.The average data regarding aphid infestation of FRI-01 for the(2019-20 and 2020-21)mentioned in Table-12.