Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

P. RUCKENBAUER and A. M. STEIN:

Agronomical performance of progenies of a 110-years old oat - The Vienna sample of 1877

Summary

The hermetical sealed "Vienna sample of 1877" from the seed collection of F. HABERLANDT contained highly viable seeds of oat and six other cultivars and weed species after 110 years Storage. The oat population of yellow and white oat types showed still a germination capacity of 81%. The results of the field test of the progenies of this very heterogeneous land race from the former Hungarian-Austrian cereal growing districts showed that its yield performance was about 52% lower than the present oat varieties in Germany and Austria. The reason for this was found in the lower grain numbers/spike, the very low thousand kernel weight and the high susceptibility for lodging together with a poor resistance for crown rust of this material. These new results of the "Vienna Sample 1877" were compared with similar publications and similarities and differentes discussed. Key-words: Oat, land-race, seed storage, germination ability, breeding success.