72 CONTROL SERIES No. 96 



Type and Performance Studies with Seed Oats 



Conducted in Cooperation with the Department of Agronomy 

 William G. Colby, Research Professor 



Very few lots of seed oats offered for sale in Massachusetts are of named varie- 

 ties or were grown primarily for seed purposes. Most of the better seedsmen 

 offer the named varieties grown for seed. Farmers, however, are accustomed to 

 purchasing ordinary commercial feeding oats from grain dealers and using these 

 for seed; and this has led the dealers to adopt the practice of selecting a ship- 

 ment of commercial oats which appears to be of good quality, screening out the 

 light oats and weed seeds, and if the grain gives a good viability test offering the 

 oats for sale as seed at a slightly advanced price over the commercial offering, but 

 for less money than seedmen's named varieties. Sometimes the oats which are 

 offered for sale as seed have not even been tested and carry none of the informa- 

 tion required by law. 



In the spring of 1938 thirteen samples of oats taken by State inspectors and 

 ten samples sent to the Seed Laboratory by dealers, or a total of twenty-three 

 samples from different seed sources, were planted in small plots and grown to 

 maturity. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine the range of 

 variation in type and performance between some of the unnamed "selected" oats 

 which are being offered for sale. With the exception of three cases in which the 

 vaiiety was named (and one of these incorrectly), these samples represented com- 

 mercial lots which were sold as "selected" seed oats, oats, Fancy seed oats, Ohio 

 oats, etc. 



Observations were made on uniformity of stand and heading and maturity dates, 

 and measurements were taken of height and total yield of dry matter. The plots 

 were all uniform in stand but showed considerable variation in other characteris- 

 tics studied. Nineteen of the samples can be characterized as representing an 

 early, short-strawed oat type which reaches maturity in 85 days. The four remain- 

 ing samples fell into a second group representing a late, long- but stiff-strawed 

 oat type which reaches maturity in 95 days. Within each group there is a wide 

 variation in total yields of dry matter, but since only a single plot of each sample 

 was planted, only the larger individual differences are significant. 



It is evident from this study that seed oats, as offered for sale, are at times 

 misnamed and that "selected" oats vary considerably in type and performance. 

 The importance of these results, however, depends upon the use to which the 

 oats are to be put. For the farmer who is growing oats for grain or hay, they 

 are significant because it is important for him to know whether his oats are 

 early or late maturing, whether the straw is resistant to lodging, and whether 

 the variety has the capacity to produce good yields of grain and straw. When 

 he plants "selected" seed oats, he is unable to predict their performance in any of 

 these respects. When he plants good seed of adapted varieties, he knows in 

 advance what to expect in the way of performance. On the other hand, for the 

 farmer who wishes to seed oats as a short-period cover crop or as a nurse crop 

 for new seedings, it makes little difference what kind of seed he uses, provided 

 the germination is reasonably good. In this case good "selected" seed oats should 

 be entirely satisfactory. 



Results of field tests are shown in the following table. Lot numbers with F 

 represent official samples taken by State seed inspectors. A complete analysis 

 of these samples is shown under the Field Crop Seeds elsewhere in this bulletin. 

 Lot numbers with no letter represent oats sent to the laboratory for test by 

 dealers and consequently are private samples, not reported elsewhere in this 

 publication. 



