190 



The Journal of Heredity 



bugs preventing all but sixteen plants 

 from maturing seed. Although the 

 1 92 1 experiments were affected by 

 several unfavorable conditions, the re- 

 sults obtained were of a convincing 

 nature. In all cases the plants grown 

 at both stations presented an appear- 

 ance closely approximating that of the 

 original plant variant. Some plants 

 resembled the characters of Avcna niida 

 more closely than others, but no plants 

 were found which resembled the hulled 

 oat type to a very marked degree. 



In 1922, kernels from each of the 

 plants of the variant grown at the 

 Akron station in 192 1 were sown on 

 April 27. A total of about two hun- 

 dred kernels was sown, from which 

 one hundred ninety-three plants grew 

 to maturity. The plants were un- 

 usually early in heading and most of 

 them had fully matured by July 16. 

 It was found, on closely examining 

 the panicles, that all but one of the 

 plants presented the intermediate hull- 

 ed-naked form of the original varia- 

 tion discovered in 1920. One plant 

 bearing two small panicles was ob- 

 served in the material grown at Akron 

 in 1922. which bore only naked kernels. 

 This plant closely resembles the other 

 plants of this peculiar strain of Burt 

 oats in all other respects, however, and 

 does not appear to be a true Avcna 

 Hilda. \Miether it will reproduce this 

 naked condition can be determined only 

 ])y growing progeny from it. 



The weather at Akron. Colo., in 

 1922, was very dry during the time 

 these plants were maturing, and as a 

 result the color of the glumes of the 

 oat kernels was perfectly developed. 

 It was of interest to discover that in 

 some panicles the glumes were very 

 nearly black. 



A total of 150 kernels of the variant 

 was sown in the Plant Breeding Nurs- 

 ery at Morgantown, W. Va., in 1922. 

 From these about one hundred plants 

 develoj^ed. These plants were the ear- 

 liest forms in the nursery, heading 

 several days before any of the other 

 oats. All of the plants again .showed 



the intermediate form, characteristic of 

 the original variant. 



Discussion 



The cause of this multiflorous varia- 

 tion in Burt oats is not definitely 

 known. Natural crosses are known to 

 occur in oats and have been reported 

 by various plant breeders. For a na- 

 tural cross to occur it would have 

 been necessary for the Burt strain, 

 C. I. No. 1921, to have been grown 

 near a naked form, and so far as is 

 known this did not occur at the Kan- 

 sas Agricultural Experiment Station 

 at Manhattan, Kans., in 1919, when 

 the strain was grown at that station. 

 If the variation was due to a cross, 

 segregation such as has been reported 

 by various plant breeders for hulled 

 X naked crosses would be expected. 

 During the three seasons this plant 

 variant and progeny from it have been 

 grown, segregation has been noticed 

 in only one case, and this segregating 

 plant more closely resembles the multi- 

 florous variant from which it originated 

 than it does the Avcna nuda form. If 

 this form originated from a hulled X 

 naked cross, the progeny should, ac- 

 cording to those who have investigated 

 crosses between hulled and naked 

 forms, have segregated into hulled, in- 

 termediate, and naked forms in the 

 ratio of 1:2:1, in the 1921 crop. Ac- 

 cording to Gaines (2), the develop- 

 ment of color is supposed to be in- 

 hibited by the naked character in 

 segregates of hulled X naked crosses. 

 Panicles in which the glume color is 

 very well developed are not difficult 

 to find in the plants of this variation 

 and some plants which have almost 

 black glumes have been observed. 



Various mutations have been re- 

 ported in oats, both in plant and seed 

 characters. Nilsson-Ehle (5) noted 

 the occurrence of white or gray in- 

 dividuals in black varieties. Warbur- 

 ton (7) found dwarf forms of plants 

 appearing in the Victory variety. The 

 seed from these dwarf forms, when 

 planted, bred true. No explanation of 



