Abstract
DURING the past two years considerable public interest has been aroused in a variety of huskless oats introduced by Mr. William Parker of Babingley Hall, near King's Lynn. In 1936, with the agreement of the introducer, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany carried out accurate yield trials of this variety in Cambridgeshire, Somerset, Shropshire, Hampshire, Norfolk and Yorkshire. The rate of seeding (45 lb. per acre) and the sowing times (end of March and beginning of April) were those recommended by the introducer. The variety with which the oat was compared was Victory, and at each centre both were sown on the same day. Victory, however, was sown at the normal seed rate for that variety 3-4 bushels per acre. On the basis of grain as threshed, Victory outyielded Parker's Huskless oat by 97 per cent, but to obtain a true comparison 28 per cent must be deducted from the grain weights of Victory, this being the normal husk percentage of that variety. On this basis, at only one centre Cambridge did Parker's Huskless oat outyield Victory, and then by the insignificant amount of 2 per cent. Averaging the results from all six centres, taking both on the above basis of naked grain, the grain yield of Victory was 41 -2 per cent heavier than Parker's Huskless oat. No shattering at harvest took place in either variety.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huskless Oats. Nature 138, 581 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138581b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138581b0