Progenitor Germplasm of Domisticated Hexaploid Oat

Cultivated hexaploid oat ( Avena sativa L. and A. byzantina C. Koch) is classified as a secondary crop, i.e., derived from weeds of the primary cereal domesticates of the Near East. Avena sterilis L., the oldest hexaploid oat, is the putative progenitor of all other cultivated and wild hexaploid oat species. The objectives of this research were to gain insight into the origin of cultivated hexaploid oat by means of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPI)) marker variation and the distribution of the 7C‐17 intergenomic chromosomal translocation in cultivated and progenitor accessions. Cluster analyses based on 248 polymorphic RAPD markers found close association between several A. sterilis accessions from the Iran‐Iraq‐Turkey region and cultivated accessions. Genotypes within this group of cultivated and progenitor accessions were divided into those with the 7C‐17 translocation ( A. sativa and A. sterilis ) and those without the translocation ( A. byzantina and A. sterilis ). The results suggested that all cultivated hexaploids are derived from progenitor germplasm from Southwest Asia, present‐day Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. At least two paths of domestication occurred: one from A. sterilis with the translocation to A. sativa and one from A. sterilis without the translocation to A. byzantina .