Vol. XXX Washington, D. C., January 1 , 1925 No. 1 
A STUDY OF VARIABILITY IN THE BURT OAT 1 
By Franklin A. Coffman, Associate Agronomist in Oat Investigations , Office of 
Cereal Investigations , Bureau of Plant Industry; John H. Parker, in Charge of 
Crop Improvement , Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station , and Agent , Office 
of Cereal Investigations; and Karl S. Quisenberry, formerly Assistant in 
Agronomy , Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 2 
INTRODUCTION 
The oat crop is the third most im¬ 
portant cereal crop in the United States, 
being outranked by corn and wheat 
only. There are two general oat-grow¬ 
ing regions, one northern and one south¬ 
ern. White oats are most popular in 
the colder north, while red oats are 
better adapted to the warmer southern 
States. 
Burt, a selection made from a 
commercial field of Red Rustproof 
about 1878, is one of the principal 
representatives of the varieties of red 
oats. The original selection is sup¬ 
posed to have been made by a man 
named Burt, whose name the variety 
now bears. The exact place of origin 
is not definitely known but is believed 
to have been in Greene County, 
southern Alabama. It is probable 
that Burt, May, Early Ripe, and 
June are different names for the same 
variety. 
The Burt oat is widely adapted and 
is commercially grown in the South and 
Southwest. It has long been recognized 
as a variable variety and its classi¬ 
fication has been difficult. The variety 
contains strains resistant to crown 
rust, Puccinia coronata Corda, as well 
as strains resistant to loose smut, 
Ustilago avenae (Pers.) Jens., and 
covered smut, U . levis (K. and S.) 
Magn. The early maturity of Burt 
often enables it to escape injury from 
drought and rusts. 
Recognizing the present economic 
importance and the potential breeding 
value of the variety, the writers under¬ 
took an extensive technical study to 
determine the nature and extent of its 
variability. As a necessary back¬ 
ground for this investigation a wide 
review was made of the technical 
papers on oat classification and breed¬ 
ing. The variety proved to be far 
more variable, both in general charac¬ 
ters and in kernel characters, than was 
previously realized. 
Five characters have been studied, 
namely, spikelet disarticulation, floret 
disjunction, basal hairs, awns, and 
lemma color. Variability is found in 
all of these, as well as in general plant 
characters. The indications are that 
in some characters homozygosity may 
be attained, or at least approached, by 
pure-line selection. Association has 
been observed to exist between some of 
these kernel characters. No genetic 
analysis is attempted on the basis of 
the data presented. 
The data presented in this paper, 
together with the literature review, are 
believed to be of especial interest to 
agronomists, geneticists, plant breed¬ 
ers, and botanists. They afford a basis 
for classifying not only the Burt oat but 
similar cultivated derivatives of Avena 
sterilis grown in the United States. 
Europeans long have designated the 
cultivated forms of A. sterilis by a 
separate specific name, just as both 
Europeans and Americans have desig- 
1 Received for publication July 18, 1924—issued February, 1925. Paper No. 154 of the Department of 
Agronomy, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. The investigations at Manhattan were conducted 
cooperatively by the Office of Cereal Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, and the Department of Agronomy of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. That 
part of the data herein reported which was obtained at the Akron Field Station was presented by the 
senior author to the faculty of the Kansas State Agricultural College as a thesis in partial fulfillment of the 
requirements for the degree of master of science, granted June 1, 1922. . 
2 The writers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Dr. C. R. Ball, senior agronomist in charge; 
C. W. Warburton, formerly agronomist; and T. R. Stanton, agronomist, of the Office of Cereal Investiga¬ 
tions, TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, for suggestions during the progress of the experiments and in the 
preparation of the manuscript; to Dr. H. H. Love, of Cornell University, for a critical reading of the 
manuscript; and to Supt. J. F. Brandon, of the Akron Field Station, Akron, Colo., for facilities provided. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
Vol. XXX, No. 1 
Jan. 1, 1925 
Key No. G—402 
13949—25f-1 
