In breeding crop varieties for stress environments, it must be decided whether to select directly, in the presence of stress, or indirectly, in a nonstress environment . The relative effectiveness of these two strategies depends upon the genetic correlation (r G) between yield in stress and nonstress environments and upon heritability in each . These parameters were estimated for grain yield of 116 random oat lines grown in nonstress, P-deficient, N-deficient, and late-planted environments . Estimates of r G between yield in nonstress and yield in P-deficient, N-deficient, and late-planted environments were 0 .52 ± 0.24, 1 .08 ± 0.16, and 0 .06 ± 0.24, respectively . No consistent relationship between heritability and environment mean yield was observed . Direct selection in the presence of stress was predicted to be superior for yield in low-P and late-planted environments, but indirect selection in high-N environments was predicted to be as effective as direct selection in producing yield gain in low-N environments . These results confirm that neither high-yield environments nor environments in which the heritability of yield is maximized are necessarily optimum when the goal is to maximize yield gain in stress environments .