TOM ZUNDEL
Mercer County Extension Agent
As the title infers, I am* going to
spend alot of time writing about oats
and ways that can effect an increase in
yields in your fields.
Now I know that oats are not nor
will they ever be, a major crop such as
com, soybeans, or alfalfa. However,
Mercer County is a major producer of
oats in Pennsylvania. Also, there are
certain markets in the area that grow
ers of oats can do veiy well in, if they
have good, clean, quality oats to sell.
Growth And Development
Oats are an annual grass that does
best growing a cool, moist climate.
They require more moisture to pro
duce a given unit of dry matter than
any other cereal, except rice. Oats are
especially vulnerable to injury by hot.
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Hints On Growing Spring Oats
dry weather, particularly from the ear
ly heading stage through the kernel
production. These are several of the
reasons that the highest grain yields
come from early planted spring oats.
The oat plant has two root systems,
the seminal and the adventitious. The
seminal roots originate during the de
velopment of the embryo. They con
sist of the primary roots (radicle) and
two or three lateral roots that arise in
the first node. Adventitious roots arise
in the nodes of the main stem and of
the tillers just beneath the surface of
the ground. The adventitious roots
constitute the major root system of the
oat plant. A subcrown intemode
grows between the two root systems
on an oat plant. This structure is able
to elongate to place the coleoptile
node, from which the adventitious
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Foraging Arbund, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 7, 1998-Page
roots grow, about one inch below the
soil surface. This is similar to the root
growth pattern in com. Like com, the
depth of planting does not have a great
influence on the depth of the main root
system of the plant.
The life cycle of the oat plant, from
germination to the mature seed, can be
divided into four stages. They are the
vegetative, transition, reproductive,
and seed stages. Each of these stages
can be distinguished from the other by
its morphological characteristics and
the developmental events that occur in
it.
In the vegetative stage, leaves,
axially shoots (tillers), and the per
manent root system (adventitious
roots) are initiated and develop; the
stem intemodes are usually very short
The transition stage is of short dura-
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lion and difficult to identify in the oat
since it consists only of a slight
elongation of the shoot top preceding
the initiation of the panicle (head).
During the reproductive stage, the
panicle and its parts differentiate and
develop and the internodes of the stem
elongate. The seed stage begins with
fertilization of the flowers and termin
ates with the maturation of the seed.
Factors That Influence Growth
Growth in the oat plant depends
upon moisture, temperature, light, and
soil. Mc-Sture and temperature are the
most important factors in the growth
and development of oats. Light is im
portant in the flowering process of the
plant. Oats can grow in almost any
type of soil, if the soil has adequate
fertility.
Oats require more moisture for pro
ducing the stalk and grain than any
other cereal, except rice, and is the
least efficient in the use of water. The
precipitation that is received in the
months of April to June principally
determines oat yields. The height of
the oats is likely to be short when the
precipitation during this period falls
below 8 to 12 inches. However, total
precipitation alone usually means lit
tle if it does not come at the right
times.
The critical stages of growth for
having adequate precipitation arc: (1)
(Turn to Page 20)
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211