FL720: New Winter Type Crown Rust Resistance Oat Variety for Dual Purpose Use for Southeastern US.

FL0720 is a new winter oat variety that was co-developed by the University of Florida and Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSUAC) and released in 2014 under the SUNGRAINS cooperative small grain breeding program among six Southern Universities.  FL0720 has considerable potential for forage, grain, conservation tillage, and wildlife purposes in the Southern U.S.

            This new oat cultivar is resistant to a new strain of crown rust that decimated popular cultivars of forage oats in Florida, and southern Georgia and Alabama in 2012 and 2013. FL720 oat variety is unique as it has high level of disease resistance to the new crown rust which was demonstrated in different testing locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. We consider FL0720 to be an excellent forage type oat because of its full season vigorous growth and high tillering capacity.  It is tall in height, late in maturity, and has good grain yield, good test weight, yellow kernels, and excellent crown rust resistance.  It has performed very well in both grain and forage trials and is broadly adapted across the Southeastern U.S.