Oat Breeding and Production in Hungary

The area sown to oats in Hungary in the 1950s was well above 200,000 ha. By 1960 it had decreased by half and the acknowledged reason for this has been the diminishing number of draught horses. The area of oats is now 40,000 ha, which is only 0.7 to 0.9% of the total arable land; a slight increase compared to the 1970s. Total oat production has shown a proportionately greater increase, and average yields are now over 2.4 t/ha. This increase is due partly to recently introduced varieties and partly to improvement in cultural practices.