182 



The Journal of Heredity 



hull-less variety was only 224 pounds 

 compared with 1,792 pounds produced 

 by the Sixty-Day. 



During the years 1917, 1918 and 

 1921, three varieties of naked oats 

 were included in the oat nursery main- 

 tained by the Office of Cereal Investi- 

 gations on the Aberdeen Substation, 

 Aberdeen, Idaho. The average yields 

 of these varieties were 4.134, 4,370 

 and 4,458 pounds, as compared with 

 an average yield of 6,742 pounds from 

 the Silvermine oat under the same con- 

 ditions. Reducing the latter yield by 

 twenty-five per cent, the normal weight 

 of the hulls, the Silvermine still pro- 

 duced 5,057 pounds of kernels with 

 the hulls removed, considerably more 

 than any of the naked varieties. 



The Liberty Hull-less has been in- 

 cluded in recent nursery experiments 

 at Cornell University. Its average 

 yield for the three-year period from 

 1919-1921, inclusive, has been 961 

 pounds as compared with 1,850 and 

 1,710 pounds for Cornellian and Sil- 

 vermine, respectively, two of the best 

 common varieties. 



These figures show clearly that 

 naked oats cannot compete with com- 

 mon hulled oats in yield, the most 

 valuable asset of any crop variety. 

 Naked oats cannot be recommended 

 for growing under field conditions, and 

 it simply is a waste of time and money 

 for farmers to attempt to grow them. 

 Not until better yielding naked varie- 

 ties are developed will it be possible 

 to make a recommendation favorable to 

 this type of oats. 



Other Undesirable Characters 



Even if naked oats compared favor- 

 ably with ordinary oats in yield, it is 

 very doubtful if they would be grown 

 extensively because of the poor kee])- 

 ing qualities of the grain. It is diffi- 

 cult to store them in bulk in large 

 quantities, as they go out of condition 



very quickly. The absence of hulls 

 apparently affects the process of res- 

 piration in the kernel, and as a result 

 deterioration takes place rapidly. Naked 

 oats also lose their viability in a short 

 time, seed a year old usually showing 

 a very low percentage of germination. 



Inheritance of the Naked Character 



Naked oats have some value for 

 hybridization, though they are of more 

 interest to the geneticist in determining 

 the mode of inheritance of certain 

 characters than they are to the prac- 

 tical plant breeder. Some of these 

 studies have been reported. 



Norton^ Zinn and Surface'^ Gaines", 

 Love and McRostie", and Capron', have 

 reported on studies of the mode of in- 

 heritance of the naked character in 

 naked-hulled croses. Their results 

 agree quite well and indicate rather 

 definitely a simple monohybrid segre- 

 gation in the second generation of one 

 naked, two intermediate (with both 

 naked and hulled oats in the same 

 spikelet), and one hulled. 



The main object of practical breed- 

 ers such as the Cartons-^- " of England 

 and Pringle^' *' ^^ of Vermont in using 

 naked oats for crossing was to obtain 

 a many-flowered hulled variety. The 

 results of recent investigations, how- 

 ever, particularly the work of Zinn 

 and Surface, Caporn, and Love and 

 McRostie, indicate that such a variety 

 is impossible. They have shown that 

 the many-flowered spikelet and naked 

 kernel or membraneous palea are 

 linked. For this reason the number 

 of flowers is reduced in all plants which 

 breed true for adherent palea (hulled 

 condition). According to Capron, a 

 biflorous naked form is possible, but 

 from the practical aspect is not de- 

 sirable. On the other hand, a multi- 

 florous hulled form is very desirable, 

 but seems impossible genetically. 



