SEED INSPECTION SI- 



TYPE AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES WITH SEED OATS 



Conducted in Cooperation with the Department of Agronomy, 

 William G. Colby, Research Professor 



In 1938, preliminary studies on different lots of Seed Oats indicated that a 

 wide variety of strains was being offered for sale in Massachusett « «d ^ 

 different lots varied widely in performance. (Control Series Bulletin 96, 1938J 

 Further and more extensive studies were carried on m 1941; a larger number of 

 seed lots was tested, and each lot was studied in greater detail than in 193* 



The test included 39 lots of Seed Oats collected from different , points of sale 

 throughout the State by the Department of Agriculture (indicated in he table 

 by the letter "F» following the sample number). The «^^^^^ 

 laboratory germination records will be found in Control Series Bulletin 107, 



940 and on pages 17 and 19 of this bulletin. Sample No 8837 was taken from 

 a lot of oats purchased by the Department of Mental Health for Monson State 

 Hospital To make the study more complete, 11 additional varieties of oats 

 which had given superior performance in other sections of the country were also 

 included. Varieties Hancock, Boone, Tama, and Marion were ob -ed^^om 

 the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station at Ames Iowa; Victory, Gopher, 



Upright, Richland, Cornellian, and Lenroc were obtained through the Eastern 

 States Cooperative Milling Corporation in Buffalo, New York; and Huron was 



>btained from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station at East Lansing, 



^EactTplot was made up of three 15-foot rows. With the exception of nine lots 

 of seed which were planted late (April 25) without replication, all other lots were 

 p anted in triplicate on April 15. In every instance an excellent stand and good 

 growth were secured. Only the center row of each plot was harvested for use in 

 determining yields of grain and straw. 



As in 1938, different lots of commercial seed varied widely in their performance 

 Even though planted at the same time, the earliest variety headed out almost 

 two weeks earlier than the latest. Yields of grain varied from 34 bushel to 

 46 bushels per acre, and straw yields varied from 1500 pounds to almost a ton 

 Lilar diffe'rences in maturity dates were found with named varieties, but ,n al 

 nlnces these differences were characteristic for the particular variety and were 

 herefore expected. With most of the commercial lots of seed, the information 

 on the idendfication tag was insufficient to indicate the variety represent^ t 

 was impossible to predict whether an individual lot of seed was early or late in 

 maturing without first growing it in the field. . 



In at least 16 out of the 40 commercial lots grown, there was a mixture of 

 different varieties. This was evidenced by wide differences in time of maturity 

 fn hefght of plant, and even in type of plant from the same lot of seed, lr i seve a 

 "stances so-called "side oats" made up part of the mixture. Wide differences 

 were X observed in the severity of smut infestation, although in certain cases 

 seed treatment was a factor rather than varietal resistance 



Though not connected with the performance of individual seed lots, the impor- 

 tance ofthe early planting of oats was clearly demonstrated. The 31 o s seeded 

 April 15 produced on the average approximately 7 more bushels of grain to the 

 acre and 450 more pounds of straw to the acre than did the nine lots seeded ten 

 days later, April 25. 



