Methods of Breeding Oats 



1789 



Mass selection. — Selection may be divided into two classes, mass selec- 

 tion and individual selection. In practicing mass selection the grower 

 selects large heads from vigorous plants of the -most desirable type in his 

 field and mixes the seed from these heads for sowing in the following year. 

 In the following year he again goes through his plat and makes selections, 

 keeping the desired type in mind. The seed from the second selection is 

 mixed and another plat is sown. This process is repeated for several years. 



Fig. 105. — Showing the two types of oats. Panided, or branched, head on the right; side, 

 or mane, head on the left. This also illustrates what is meant by the term spikelet (sp) 



By this method the grower obtains a strain of oats more nearly of one type, 

 and, if the work is done carefully, a better-yielding strain than the com- 

 mercial variety from which the selections were made. The commercial 

 variety will yield less, because it is composed of not only the good-yielding 

 sorts that have been isolated through selection but also the many poor- 

 yielding sorts which tend to lower the yield of the variety. 



This point is well illustrated by the yields of two selections from the 

 Sixty Day variety, which for the past six years have produced 57 bushels 

 and 51.9 bushels, respectively — a difference of over five bushels between 



