New Oat Variety

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 9

New Oat Variety

IT will be 1966 before mer--1 chants will have supplies of seed of this new oat, called Mapua, and it will be available to farmers in any .quantity. Release of the variety has already been approved.

This season about four acres are being grown under arrangement of the Department of Agriculture to increase the supply of seed. Mapua is based on a cross of Milford, a lodging-resist-ant Welsh variety, and Forward, an oat bred by the English firm of Gartons—it is grown on a small scale in Southland and proved to be as good as Onward in trials. This cross was made by the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Lincoln in 1953.

The first full scale yield trial of the new variety was made in 1957-58 —a year earlier than normal because it was so promising in the early generations. It is high yield producing, resistant to lodging and of reasonably good milling quality. It is not quite so good as Onward for milling, but is thought to be considerably superior from the farmers’ point of view.

It was grown in block trials in South Canterbury and in South Otago and Eastern Southland at the same time as new Onward 1963 in the 1961-62 season for full-seale milling comparisons. The report on these trials says that while crops of Mapua cannot produce oats as good as the best lines of Onward it appears that under adverse conditions —whether dry conditions leading to low yields or heavy growth leading to lodging—Mapua should yield better milling oats than either Onward 1956 or Onward 1963.

After last harvest a careful examination was made of the 26 selections which had been saved from the previous purification of the variety. Any lines that were poor in respect of virus resistance, apparent milling quality or yield were rejected and 10 lines remained. The bulk of these is now being grown under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, and at the Crop Research Divi-

sion a comparison is being made between the top 10 lines, the bulk of the lines that were rejected after last harvest, and the original line which was tested in the earlier extensive field trials. The object is to find out whether the further purification has improved the line.