LEVERAGING VARIATION IN IMMUNE RESPONSE TO UNDERSTAND AND IMPROVE AVENANTHRAMIDE PRODUCTION AND DISEASE RESISTANCE IN OAT

Oat (Avena sativa L.) seeds contain a suite of health-promoting compounds, some of which also contribute to plant disease resistance. It is beneficial to oat growers, processors and consumers to improve consistency and output of these compoundslike avenanthramides, antixoidants found in oat seeds and other tissues. The goal of this project is thus to investigate how oat genetic variation and management practices can be leveraged to increase seed avenanthramidesby triggering plant immune responses, and testing how both avenanthramides and immune activation can reduce severity of multiple diseases. This project will encompass pre-breeding efforts that incorporate quantitative genetics and phenomics to improve oat nutrition and plant disease resistance.The objectives of this project are to:Characterize variation in constitutive oat seed avenanthramides, and avenanthramides induced upon activating plant immune responses at the genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic levels.Test the degree to which activated plant immune responses reduce severity of multiple diseases (crown rust, Fusarium head blight, barley yellow dwarf virus and loose smut), and how infection and treatment interact to affect avenanthramide concentration.Assess genotype-by-environment variance in avenanthramides to identify and characterize environments in which treatment may be most productive.