1064 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 11 
identical and the names, therefore, are 
synonymous * * They are so 
considered in this paper. 
Norton (18) points out that most oat 
varieties probably consist of numerous 
strains. The work of Coffman, Parker, 
and Quisenberry (4) shows this to be 
especially true of the Burt variety, 
which was found to consist of numerous 
distinct types, some of which differ 
widely. Warburton and Stanton (26) 
have stated that both white-kerneled 
and yellow-kerneled -selections have 
been made from Kherson or Sixty-Day. 
Stanton (19) and many others have 
made reports on experiments conducted 
with selections from this variety. Re¬ 
ports by Love (10,11,12), Williams and 
Welton (28), Warburton, Burnett, and 
Love (25), Surface and Zinn (21), Wel¬ 
ton and Gearhart (27), Kiesselbach 
and Ratcliff (8), Burnett (1), Hayes 
and Garber (7), Leith and Delwiehe 
(9), and Burnett, Stanton, and War¬ 
burton 4 have described selections made 
from Kherson or Sixty-Day. 
Panicles and spikelets of important 
selections from Kherson or Sixty-Day 
are shown in Plate 1. 
Many investigators have used strains 
of Kherson or Sixty-Day as parental 
material in oat hybridization, both 
with the object of producing improved 
economic varieties and for genetic 
studies. A correct knowledge of the 
variety itself is therefore of considerable 
importance. 
Surface (20) made one of the first 
reports on a cross in which the Kherson 
oat was studied genetically. He crossed 
this variety on Avena fatua, the com¬ 
mon wild oat. He states that the 
pure-line selection of Kherson used in 
this cross had been grown for five years 
and had always bred true for all 
characters. According to him the awn 
was seldom present in this strain of 
Kherson. When present it was found 
only on the lower kernel and then was 
very weak. The kernels of this selec¬ 
tion had no basal scar and seldom had 
basal hairs, although spikelets having 
lower kernels with one or two long hairs 
on the side of the callus occasionally 
were found. He further states that all 
cultivated varieties of oats which have 
come to his notice may have this slight 
pubescence at the base of the lower 
grain and that some varieties have it 
more marked than others. Surface 
also found the Fi of his cross to be inter¬ 
mediate between the two parents in 
nearly all respects. In F 2 he observed 
that the basal scar segregated into 
a ratio of one prominent, two inter¬ 
mediate, and one absent. He observed 
linkage between basal scar and the 
presence of hairs on the base. The 
absence of basal scar was found to be 
apparently dominant, or at least parti¬ 
ally so, over the “wild” type of base 
having a very pronounced scar. No 
marked relation was noted between the 
yellow color of the Kherson strain he 
used and absence of awns. He attri¬ 
buted the fact that F 2 awnless plants 
failed to breed true in F 3 either to the 
presence of additional genes or to the 
explanation of Nilsson-Ehle (17) that 
external conditions may greatly affect 
the production of awns in cultivated 
oats. Surface further states: “Gen¬ 
eral observations also indicate that the 
character of awning varies widely even 
within a pure line, and it may happen 
that plants which are genetically 
awned will, because of environmental or 
other conditions, show no awns.” He 
found evidence of linkage between culti¬ 
vated base form and absence of hairs 
and also between yellow color and 
absence of basal scar* 
Love and Fraser (18) crossed awn¬ 
less Sixty-Day with Burt and with 
Red Rustproof (Red Texas), both of 
which bore awns of the “weak” type. 
The Fi of both crosses was almost 
awnless. They observed that awnless 
F 2 plants did not always produce 
progeny all of which were awnless in 
F 3 , a fact which they attribute to 
environmental factors preventing or 
obscuring the production of awns in 
the F 2 generation. They believe the 
“strong” awn type to be recessive, but 
the awnless condition could not be 
considered as being entirely dominant. 
Apparently the explanation of Nilsson- 
Ehle (17), which assumes that yellow 
color in oats is linked with an inhibitory 
factor for awn production, is favored. 
It is suggested by Love and Fraser 
that probably the results obtained by 
Surface (20) in crossing Kherson oats 
with the wild Avena fatua may be 
similarly explained—i. e., Kherson 
may carry a factor inhibitory to 
awning. 
Love and Craig (14) report results 
obtained in crossing Avena fatua X 
Avena sativa variety Sixty-Day. Their 
results, however, do not agree with 
those of Surface. They point out that 
in view of the possibility of obtaining 
different strains from a variety, particu¬ 
larly so far as the inheritance is con¬ 
cerned, as shown by yield, etc., it is 
not surprising that these results should 
not agree. Love and Craig conclude 
that the Sixty-Day strain they used 
‘Burnett, L. C., Stanton, T. R., and Warburton, C. W. improved oat varieties for the 
corn BELT U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 1343. 1925. (In press ) 
