race, aS well as Coker 338-50, all Red Rust Proof 
strains, and the three recently bred rust and smut 
resistant Texas oats, Rustler, Ranger and Rangler. 
Virulent New Race Develops in Oklahoma 
Dr. Stanton, Senior Agronomist in Charge of 
U.S. D. A. Oat Investigations, while on an inspec- 
tion tour in Oklahoma, made a collection of smut 
out of a Fulghum field. This was forwarded to Dr. 
Geo. M. Reed, Curator, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a 
world authority on smut. He tested a large number 
of varieties and strains with this new race and we 
oat breeders found, to our great disappointment, that 
many hitherto highly resistant varieties were sus- 
ceptible to this particular race, which he designates 
Avena-30. 
New Oat Strains May Have Resistance 
to New Smuts 
The most serious setback was received when Dr. 
Reed discovered that Victoria—which had been con- 
sidered smut immune—was highly susceptible to this 
new race; furthermore, that all the new highly smut 
and rust resistant strains and varieties that derive 
their smut resistance from Victoria, were likewise 
susceptible. Among these were all Stanton strains 
and Letoria, Lelina, Lelate, Lega, DeSota, Fultex, 
and most Victorgrain strains; however, Victor- 
grains 42-3 and 42-5 (that are in 10-acre increase) 
and Fulgrain 4 and strains descended therefrom, 
showed the highest degree of resistance. 
Victorgrain Smut Shows Up in Spring of 1943 
This year, for the first time, an apparently new 
race has appeared to which Victorgrain Strains 1, 
2 and 3 are susceptible. We were inclined to believe 
at first that this was Avena-30—as the strains of 
Fulgrain and Victorgrain that Dr. Reed designated 
as susceptible, showed smut, and all but one of 
those that he reported as resistant, showed no smut 
—were it not for the fact that all Stanton strains 
so far show absolute freedom from smut and all 
of these were highly susceptible to Avena-30. 
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