Rapida, a new oat variety, features quicker development than any other normally winter-sown feed grain (barley, oats, wheat or rye). Considered more a “new crop” than a new variety, Rapida came from a double hybridization of a cultivated oat variety with the wild oat, Avena fatua L. In the Davis area, it has been planted July 1 and harvested (mature grain) early in September—suggesting the possibility of growing three successive crops in some parts of California.

This report results from Project 176 (U. S. Department of Agriculture and the California Agricultural Experiment Station cooperating).