This is the beginning of a new year, and there’s a new volume of "Research Reports" for 2024 – number 61. Four articles have already been added to this volume.

The first one, by Rick Jellen, et al., summarizes a new paper describing updated nomenclature rules for oat genes and chromosomes. The authors are members of the International Oat Nomenclature Committee, which strongly recommends that these new rules be followed whenever possible going forward. A link to this paper has also been added to the "Nomenclature" page.

The second article, by Charlene Wight (yes, me), et al., summarizes a new paper presenting a number of new genomics resources to the community. These include tables comparing linkage groups across genetic maps, comparisons of the 2018 Mrg consensus map linkage groups to the OT3098 v2 genome sequence, and an inventory aligning all of the genes and quantitative trait loci located over the last 100 years to the Mrg map and OT3098 v2 (where possible!). This paper is also listed on the "Nomenclature" page, along with lists of genes compiled by Simons, et al. in years past.

This newsletter update could have been called "The Rick Jellen Edition". In addition to being first author on the paper describing the new nomenclature rules, Rick is also listed as an author on the second and third papers! The third research report summarizes an article by El hadji Thiam, et al., describing the quality characteristics of new, domesticated Avena magna lines. Two other articles describing these lines have recently been published, and are cited in the article presented here.

The fourth research report is a description of two new spring oat varieties developed by Steffen Beuch in Germany: 'Waran' and 'Caledon'. Another of Steffen's newer varieties, 'Scotty', helped Kali Alasaari of Lapua, Finland, take home the ADA Yield Enhancement Network’s 2023 Bronze Oats Award!

You'll also see that a number of other peer-reviewed papers have been listed in the "Weekly Web Harvest", found in the "Community News" section. While it's preferred that research report articles describe work not published elsewhere, anyone is welcome to summarize their published work and submit it for inclusion in the "Research Reports" section.

There are many ways to communicate our work these days, and Melanie Caffe, oat breeder at SDSU, will be speaking about "Improving Resilience and Profitability through Oat Breeding" at a webinar organized by the Practical Farmers of Iowa on Friday, February 2nd. You can register for that here.

Kevin Smith, from UMN, was recently featured in a podcast where he describes his work in breeding multiple crops, including oat. A video about oat variety trials conducted for Grain Millers in Yorkton, SK, Canada, can be seen here.

It's been quite a while since we’ve had any "Speaking of Oats..." webinars. If you'd like to present your work or see a particular topic discussed, please get in touch with me (oatnewsletter@gmail.com) or use this form!

Let's also not forget that conferences are really great places to discuss work in progress. The website for the American Oat Workers' Conference (AOWC) this summer has been updated, and registration is open! Information concerning hotels is also available, and don't forget to submit your abstracts!

Abstracts and information from previous AOWC meetings can be found on the "American Oat Workers' Conference" page. The minutes from the business meeting at the 2018 conference are also there, and will be reviewed at the meeting in July. New officers will also be elected to the AOW committee.

This newsletter/library/compendium of oat information is sponsored by AOW, and the editor is elected at the AOWC business meetings. Please send any content, ideas for improvement, or other feedback to oatnewsletter@gmail.com, and keep reading!