Research Progress Report 384
February 1971
D
iana Spring Oats
J. F. Schafer, F. L. Patterson, R. M. Caldwell, and L. E. Compton,
Departments of Botany and Plant Pathology and Agronomy; in cooperation
with Crops Research Division, A.R.S., U. S. Department of Agriculture.

The Diana spring oat, C17921, offers the Indiana farmer the best combination of good performance and protection from crown rust losses now available in an early oat. Crown rust on the average causes more loss in Indiana than all other oat diseases.
Diana has been produced commercially in Brazil, South America. It was approved for release by the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station and the Crops Research Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture in June 1966. At this time it was distributed in germ plasm amounts to breeders in the United States and was made available to governmental agencies and interested people in Brazil where it had been highly resistant to crown rust and stem rust and had performed well in cooperative international nurseries.
Subsequent tests in Indiana have indicated that Diana has somewhat higher yield than Clintland 64 (currently our most rust resistant variety in production), better test weight, and shorter, stiffer straw.

Origin
Diana resulted from a final cross in 1959 between two selected lines Purdue 549B3-1-1 and Purdue 543C2-132P completing the cross-
ing of selected parents in the following scheme:
Clintland/3/Clinton*2/Ark 674/2/
Milford/6/Roxton/3/Victoria/2/
Hajira/Banner/4/Ajax/3/Victoria/2/
Hajira/Banner(Ottawa 3928-5-8)/5/
Clinton/Bond/2/PI 174544-3
The new variety was selected by the modified pedigree method with plant selections in F1, F2 and F3 generations. Breeders seed consisted of the compositing seed of 162 plant progeny rows in Fiq (1967) uniform for maturity, height, and crown rust resistance. The breeders seed distributed in 1970 was in the F12 generation.

Adaptation and Performance
Diana is an early oat being about one day later than Jaycee, one day earlier than Clintford or Tippecanoe, and four days earlier than Clintland 64 (Table 1).
Diana is best adapted to conditions favoring an early oat which occur most frequently in central Indiana. Here Diana has yielded as well on the average as Jaycee, better than Tippecanoe, but lower than Clintford. Diana has yielded somewhat better than the mid-season variety Clintland 64, which currently offers the best protection from crown rust losses (Tables 1 and 2).
PURDUE UNIVERSITY • Agricultural Experiment Station • Lafayette, Indiana