Rapida… a new oat crop for California

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.