2012 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416): 1) To identify marker trait association between elite North American oat varieties and key traits including total dietary fiber, beta glucan, vitamin E, crown and stem rust resistance, barley yellow dwarf resistance, height, lodging, plumps, test weight. 2) Develop and use the marker-trait association for predictive assays through the USDA, ARS Genotyping centers by specifically placing the equipment needed to perform the assays. 1b.Approach (from AD-416): Six-hundred and twelve oat lines representing the diversity important to North American Oat breeding programs and elite lines from each breeding program will be grown in ID, NY, IL, IN, WI, MN, ND, TX, LA, NC, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and the UK. Agronomic traits will be collected by the breeder in at least ID, NY, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. Seed harvested from these locations will be test for milling quality for avenanthramide, a-tocotrienol, a-tocopherol, total dietary fiber, and ß-glucan. Disease data (Crown rust, Stem rust, and BYDV) will be collected in TX, IN, IL, LA, ID, WI, Ottawa, and MN, while freeze tolerance data will be collected in NC. Genotypic and phenotypic data will be used to determine marker-trait association using JMP Genomics and TASSEL. An open array real-time TaqMan assay will develop to run predictive assay on marker-trait associations. 3.Progress Report: Progress was made on the objective, which fall under National Program 301, Component 1, Plant and Microbial Genetic Resource Management, and Component 2, Crop Informatics, Genomics, and Genetic Analyses. Progress on this project focuses on problem of assessment of agronomic and quality traits of oat lines. We have phenotyped 685 oat lines for key agronomic, milling, and quality traits. In addition, total dietary fiber and beta glucan analysis will be done on selected oat lines. Information exchanged is facilitated through email, on site visits and meetings. The project objective is completely reached. Results support Objective 1 in the parent project plan, development of molecular tools for oat.