June 1,1925 
Variation in the Kherson Oat 
1081 
ant strains has been rather definitely 
stated. Only a few of these crosses have 
produced strains of any economic 
promise. 
Spikelet disarticulation by abscission, 
so characteristic of Red Rustproof oats, 
does not occur in Kherson. Disarticu¬ 
lation by semiabscission breeds true in 
some strains, but shows apparent seg¬ 
regation in others. Most strains show 
the more or less rough and pointed base 
resulting from fracture, which is charac¬ 
teristic of Avena sativa varieties. 
Floret disjunction in strains of 
Kherson oat is predominantly by dis¬ 
articulation, as in Avena sativa, and 
probably is homozygous. The very 
small percentage of kernels showing 
floret disjunction either by basifracture, 
as in A. sterilis, or by heterofracture, an 
intermediate type, can be explained on 
the principle of chance variation. 
Basal hairs appear exceedingly com¬ 
plex in their mode of inheritance. 
With few exceptions all basal hairs in 
the Kherson oat are midlength to short. 
Several factors apparently are involved 
and further study is necessary to de¬ 
termine their true genetic behavior. 
The inheritance of awn type appar¬ 
ently shows no definite relation be¬ 
tween the presence of awns and kernel 
color. This is contrary to the results 
obtained by certain other investigators. 
The data obtained in the present in¬ 
vestigations indicate that the yellow 
color of the Kherson strain used does 
not carry an inhibitor for awns, as all 
types of awns have been found on yel¬ 
low kernels. It has been shown fur¬ 
ther that it is possible to isolate vellow- 
kerneled strains which apparently are 
homozygous for certain awn types as 
well as for practically complete awn- 
lessness. Several factors apparently 
are concerned in the production of 
awns in Kherson oats. Further inves¬ 
tigations are necessary to determine 
the genotypic constitution of strains 
having different awn types and the 
influence of physiological factors on 
awn production. 
Apparently only two factors for 
color exist in Kherson oat lemmas— 
viz., one for yellow and one for white. 
Some strains evidently are heterozy¬ 
gous for lemma color, but yellow is 
predominant, and many yellow strains 
are homozygous, as shown by their 
breeding behavior. Some white strains 
exist in Kherson, but they are much 
less numerous. Apparently physio¬ 
logical influences often cause genetically 
yellow kernels to be classed as pheno- 
typically white kernels and vice versa. 
LITERATURE CITED 
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