Researchers Investigate Long-Lost Swiss Oat Variety

2025-10-30 02:11:42

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Information on the genetic make-up of the oat variety "Hatives des Alpes", which was once widespread in the Swiss Alps, has been incorporated into an international oat gene atlas. Researchers hope this information can help develop new oat varieties. This content was published on October 30, 2025 - 13:15 3 minutes Keystone-SDA

Deutsch de Forscher untersuchen lange verschollene Schweizer Hafersorte Original Read more: Forscher untersuchen lange verschollene Schweizer Hafer

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This atlas, published in the scientific journal Nature, collects the genetic information of oat varieties and shows which genes are present in all oat plants and which are specific to individual varieties, explained Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich in a press release on Thursday.

“The specific genes can be of interest for breeding,” explained ETH researcher Bruno Studer, who was involved in compiling the atlas, in the press release. For example, the“Hative des Alpes” variety has genes that make it resistant to certain diseases, as well as genes that make it particularly suitable for cultivation in the Alpine region.“If you know these genes and what they do, you can specifically cross them into another variety,” says Studer.
Disappeared during the Second World War
The“Hative des Alpes” oat variety was widely cultivated in Switzerland between 1910 and 1930. It disappeared completely from Swiss fields after the Second World War.
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