Jan. 1, 1925 
A Study of Variability in the Burt Oat 
25 
ment of agronomy of the Kansas Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station give the 
following histories and descriptions for 
these strains of Burt oats: 
Kansas No. 5020 (Cereal Investiga¬ 
tions No. 293) was obtained in 1904 
from the cooperative field station of 
the United States Department of 
Agriculture and the Kansas Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station, at McPher¬ 
son, Kans. The description of this 
variety as received at Manhattan was 
“gray and brown oats of good grade.” 
This strain has been grown in the crop 
improvement nursery at Manhattan 
since 1911. In 1919 the general de¬ 
scription 21 given the strain was “awn¬ 
less, smooth and pubescent grains, 
light yellow to brown in color and with 
both sativa and sterilis articulations.” 
The description of the mass color of 
this strain in 1920 was “pale buckthorn 
brown.” 
Kansas No. 5211 (C. I. No. 1917) 
was received from Prof. T. A. Kiessel- 
bach, of the Nebraska Agricultural 
Experiment Station, in 1918. This 
strain was described in 1919 as having 
“weak awns, smooth and pubescent 
grains, light red to brown in color and 
both the sterilis and sativa types of 
articulation.” The mass color descrip¬ 
tion for this strain was “light buck¬ 
thorn brown.” 
Kansas No. 5219 (C. I. No. 2023) 
was received from Albert Goenner, a 
farmer of Zenda, Kingman County, 
Kans., in March, 1920. The selections 
were made from the original sample of 
seed as obtained from Mr. Goenner. 
The mass color description of this 
variety was “primuline yellow.” 
Kansas No. 5220 (C. I. No. 293) was 
received from the Belle Fourche Ex¬ 
periment Farm of the Office of Western 
Irrigation Agriculture, Bureau of Plant 
Industry, United States Department of 
Agriculture, at Newell, S.Dak., in 1916. 
Although this strain carries the same 
Cereal Investigations number (293) as 
Kansas No. 5020, it may have a different 
origin and history. Burt, C. I. No. 
293, is known to vary widely in general 
appearance at the different stations at 
which it is being grown. The 1919 
description of Kansas No. 5220, as 
grown at the Kansas station, was 
“weak awns, smooth and pubescent 
grains, light yellow to brown in color, 
with the sterilis and sativa types of 
articulation.” This strain of Burt 
oats had a higher proportion of dark- 
colored florets than any other strain 
used in these experiments. The de¬ 
scription of mass color is “dark buck¬ 
thorn brown.” 
Kansas No. 6004 (C. I. No. 1918) 
originated as a selection from Burt, 
Kansas No. 5020. The selection was 
made at the Kansas Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station in 1910. The 1919 
description for this strain was “awn¬ 
less, smooth grains, yellow to dark red 
in color, and sativa and sterilis articu¬ 
lation.” The description of mass color 
for the strain was “cream color.” 
Kansas No. 6052 (C. I. No. 1919) also 
is a selection from Kansas No. 5020, 
made at the Kansas station in 1911. 
In 1919 the strain was described as 
“awnless, smooth grained, light yellow 
to dark red in color, having both sterilis 
and sativa types of articulation.” 
About 98 per cent of the kernels were 
of a light color. The mass color of this 
strain was “buff yellow.” 
Kansas No. 6076 (C. I. No. 1920) 
originated as a selection from Burt, 
Kansas No. 5020. This selection was 
made at the Kansas Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station in 1912. The 1919 
description for this selection was “awn¬ 
less, smooth grains, light yellow to 
brown in color and both the sativa and 
sterilis types of articulation.” About 
75 per cent of the kernels were yellow 
in color. The description of the mass 
color for this strain was “maize 
yellow.” 
Kansas No. 6090 (C. I. No. 1921) was 
received in 1918 from Prof. L. C. Bur¬ 
nett, of the Iowa Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station. The Iowa nursery row 
number was 1711, and the seed was 
described as having “dark kernels.” 
The description of the strain as grown 
at the Kansas station in 1919 was 
“awnless, smooth grained, light red to 
dark brown in color with about 75 per 
cent of dark kernels, and both the 
21 In this and the following descriptions the word “smooth” means glabrous or without pubescence; 
the word “grains” means the florets or more particularly the lemmas; and the word “articulation” means 
disjunction either by disarticulation or by fracture of the rachilla segment. The name “ sterilis ” refers to 
the cultivated derivatives of that species which in this paper are grouped under the specific name byzantina. 
The color descriptions were made by Mr. S. Fred Prince, biological artist at the Kansas Agricultural 
Experiment Station. The terms used are those given by Ridgway (110) for the corresponding colors. 
EXPLANATORY LEGEND FOR PLATE 4 
Lemma colors of three strains of Burt oat in 1919. A to E.—Kansas No. 6090: A, black; B, dark brown; 
C, red; D, reddish yellow; E, red. F to K—Kansas No. 5219: F, dark brown; G, light brown; H, red; 
I, yellowish-white; J, gray; K, white. L to Q.—Kansas No. 5220: L, dark brown; M, light brown; N. red; 
O, yellow; P, white; Q, red. 
