STATEMENT ON VICTORIA BLIGHT — A NEW OAT DISEASE 
It has come to our attention that in some areas of the Lower 
Southern Oat Belt a new and virulent race of root rot known as 
Victoria Blight (Helminthosporium Victoriae) has caused damage to 
the oat crop. Fortunately, this disease has appeared in very limited 
areas, principally along the extreme lower edge of the Southern Oat 
Belt, and usually the greatest damage having been noticed where oats 
were planted on the same soil year after year. 
Last season was ideal for the spread of all root rot diseases. The 
mild fall and winter weather resulted in a rapid, sappy growth of 
the oat plants, and the low temperatures late in the season, the cold, 
wet Spring, and the lack of sufficient Nitrogen fertilizer resulted in 
weakened plants which were more susceptible to disease. Such an 
unusual season and the damage from disease which came partly as 
a result, may not occur again soon. 
We do not wish to minimize the possible seriousness of this disease. 
If varieties of oats of Victoria origin are planted on land known to 
have been infested the preceding season, it is possible that severe 
losses may result; especially is this true if seed is not treated with 
5% Ceresan. 
While none of our varieties of oats—Victorgrain, Fulgrain or Stanton 
which are all Victoria derivatives, are resistant to the Victoria Blight, 
practically all varieties now available are susceptible to one or more 
races of the root rot disease. This being the case, we are offering 
the following suggestions on growing oats which we hope will be helpful: 
1. Plant only the best pedigreed or certified seed of established 
and well adapted varieties. 
2. Plant only seed treated with new improved 5% Ceresan 
(all of our 1947 Breeder Foundation Stock seed oats have 
been so treated, and were grown on clean land free of 
Victoria Blight). 
3. Plant on clean land that has not been in oats for one or 
two years, and preferably behind cotton. 
4. Plant 2 to 3 weeks later than the usual planting time. 
We quote the following from an article written by Dr. H. R. Rosen, 
Department of Plant Pathology of Arkansas College of Agriculture: 
“Since Traveler, DeSoto, and other Victoria derivatives have 
continued to yield well, and since there is at present no other variety 
available that combines their good qualities with Helminthosporium 
Blight resistance, these must still be recommended. . .”’ 
Our first oat breeding and improvement work was started with the 
old Red Rustproof types. These were later replaced by Fulghum which, 
in turn, was replaced by the Nortons; the Nortons were later supplant- 
ed by such cold and smut resistant types as Coker 32-1 and Fulgrain. 
The rust resistance was added to the smut and cold types, and we 
finally arrived with the excellent and general purpose Victorgrains and 
rust resistant Fulgrains. 
Coker’s Victorgrain and Fulgrain oats are two of the most popular 
and widely planted varieties in the Southeast. They have yielded well 
in Southern Experiment Station variety tests and have produced 
satisfactory yields for grain growers over a large part of the Southern 
Oat Belt. Both Victorgrain and Fulgrain are early in maturity, resistant 
to leaf rust and smut, with a quality grain and are widely recognized 
as desirable “‘combine’’ varieties. 
We are very glad to announce that of the ninety-eight strains we 
had this year in first year increase, thirty-three were reported by Dr. 
Murphy of Ames, Iowa, and Dr. Shands of Wisconsin as being highly 
resistant to Victoria Blight. We will have enough seed from some 
of these resistant strains this year to increase for market. We are 
planning to offer at least one of these next year to our customers who 
have infested land, for use until we have developed resistance to this 
disease in our established varieties. 
The purpose of this statement is not to cause you any unnecessary 
worry over Victoria Blight, but to give some suggestions on growing 
oats for those areas where the disease is present or likely to occur; and 
also to let you know that we have new strains coming on that have 
resistance. 
COKER’S PEDIGREED SEED COMPANY 
Hartsville, South Carolina 
