NEW GREENFEED OAT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31333, 1 April 1967, Page 9

NEW GREENFEED OAT

The first release of a new variety of greenfeed oat has just been made. Mr G. M. Wright, a cereal breeder at the Crop Research Division at Lincoln, said this week that the new oat, which was named Amuri by the. Field Crop Committee last year, had given outstanding results in forage production, particularly in the autumn and early winter.

Amuri had been grown in drilled yield trials under the identification 80,02 since 1960, said Mr Wright, and had been in co-operative Department of Agriculture grazing and yield trials since 1962.

It had short, strong straw and was resistant to crown rust Compared with Algerian oats its early growth was very fast—it was sometimes ready for a second grazing before Algerian had had its first —and it stood and yielded much better. It was a white oat, with no problem of dormancy after harvest, so that new season’s grain could be sown in March or April Compared with Mapua, the new high-yielding milling variety, it was considerably earlier ripening and definitely lower in grain yield and more Inclined to break down after it was header ripe. As shown in the accompanying photograph of a particularly heavy specimen, the

heads of Amuri were similar to those of Mapua. In most samples the grain was too small and thin for milling, but its feed value was good with a high level of fat and protein and a thin husk. Amur! was bred at the Crop Research Division from Milford, a lodging-resistant Welsh variety which was also one of the parents of Mapua, and an Australian introduction, Vic-toria-Richland-Algerian. The original cross was made in 1954. To a plant breeder its greatest virtue was a good tolerance to late infection with barley yellow dwarf virus, said Mr Wright Although it showed some damage, it was the best of all the commercial varieties, local or introduced, which had been tested at Lincoln. Damage to forage production from autumn infection was another story, however, and the best defence was not to let too much

growth develop before feeding' off, particularly When aphides were flying. Only a limited amount of certified mother seed of Amuri is being released. Mr N. L. ShiUito farm advisory officer (seed production) of the Department of Agriculture, said tills week that seed merchants had recently been advised of the availability of the first departmental releaaa grown at Halkett last season. He expects moat of the demand to be from North Canterbury and tiie Ashburton county, where it has been most successful in trials. A few farmers had received seed of Amuri as 80,02 from the Crop Research Division for trial sowings in recent years and had agreed not to place the produce of their first crops on the market as seed, Mr Wright said. It was possible that some produce of subsequent crops would have been sold for seed. Such lines would be satisfactory for greenfeed, but would definitely.'be very mixed in type, aS they bad had no purification from the time of the original selection of 80,02 in 1958, and would be contaminated with other lines from yield trials. They would not be recommended for further seed production.