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Notes on Oats for the Southern States
Author(s) -
Warburton C. W.
Publication year - 1914
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1914.00021962000600030004x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , agriculture , agricultural science , agricultural economics , mathematics , history , political science , computer science , economics , archaeology , biology
In the February Journal of Heredity there appeared a very interesting article on "The Origin of Cultivated Oats" by Dr. L. Trabut, director of the botanical service of the Government of Algeria. This paper was originally presented’ by Dr. Trabut at the Fourth Congress of Genetics in Paris in 1911. It does not discuss in detail the .origin of all varieties of cultivated oats, but only of those which are commonly grown in the Mediterranean region of southern Europe and northern Africa. The usually ac.cepted~ theory that Arena fatua is the parent o.f the varieties .of oats grown in the n~rth of Europe is accepted ’by Dr. Trabut, but he brings forward quite convincing evidence to show that .the cultivated oa.ts of the Mediterranean region have been woduced from ~t. sterilis, a .wild’ form which is s.till common there. The character on which the separation between derivatives from A. f.atua and, A. sterilis is made is ,the method of disarticulation of the seco.nd kernel in the spikelet. In A. fatua and varieties produced from it, the rachilla breaks off at the base of the second kernel and remain.s attached .to the inner face of the primary one. On the other hand, in A. sterilis and its derivatives, the second kernel carries its rachilla with it when disarticula~/ed. Dr. Trabut describes and illhstrates a very interesting series showing the transiti’on from the wild t.o .the best cultivated forms. The paper is of much value to botanists and agronomists in that it adds to the general knowledge of the origin of our cultivated plants and emphasizes the fact that certain varieties of oats are particularly adapted to warm climates because they have been derived from a wild species which is native to a subtropical region. The theory that all our cultivated varieties of .oats have not been derived from Arena fatua, but that certain forms adapted to warm climates have been developed’ from. A. sterilis, is not, however, entirely new. In a paper presented before the third annual meeting of the American Breeders’ Association Mr. J. B. Norton1 makes the following statements :