The Author is indebted to his colleagues from the NSW Department of Agriculture; the late Dr F. Mengersen, oat breeder, for generously sharing his knowledge; Farm Manager Messrs. Eric Powell, the Farm Manager at Glen Innes, who made the Author welcome and at ease during the first years of his settling in Australia. He fondly remembers fellow agronomists, Martin Bellert of Queensland and the late Milton Walker, both of whom were very supportive in this work; Ern Tindale and Jack Loveridge for providing the fertile seed-beds so necessary for genetic gains in the oat crop; Mr. I. Cole for pure seed production; Mr. Bill Uppsdell and Mr. Jack Stapleton for maintaining the link of pedigree records; the oat germplasm and uniform techniques from pioneer oat breeders, the late Dr S. L. Macindoe and Mr. J. C. Carroll, previously of Glen Innes Station; District Agronomists, Agronomists-in-training and all personnel, past and present, involved in the NSW Agricutlure oat breeding and testing program.

The Author also acknowledges other Australian agronomists, completely unknown to him, who carried out complex grazing experiments with his Blackbutt, P4315 and Carbeen (selected by Mr. Glenn Roberts of Temora Research Station), all cultivars from the High-vigour Cross, and had them published in scientific journals. Some of these people included Mr. Muldoon, who found Blackbutt to be the best variety, physiologically, for total grazing and grain of any winter cereal, under irrigation at Trangie; Mr. McLeod and Mr. Ramsey, who found Blackbutt and Carbeen were the highest producers of total grazing and grain after 4 grazings at Bendigo, Victoria; Mr. Craig and Mr. Potter found that Carbeen was the only variety at Kybybolite, South Australia, which increased its grain yield after 2 grazings. The Author also acknowledges the efforts of Mr. G. Hennessy, who obtained a world grain yield record for P4315 oats (an early maturing sister-line to Blackbutt) of 20 tonnes per ha, following two grazings, at Tamworth Research Station in 1973.

The critical reviews provided by several agricultural scientists are kindly acknowledged including those provided by Professor Haydn Lloyd-Davies, Professor Peter Ruckenbauer, Professor Frank Crofts, Paul Dann, Norm Markham, Wayne Vertigan, Bob Fozzard, Andy Roberts and Dr. Ted Matheson. Dr. W. Jim Altham is also acknowledged for his review of a final draft of the manuscript.

The Author is also grateful to Mr. Roger Fitzsimmons, who retired as Assistant Principal Agronomist of Cereals in the NSW Department of Agriculture, for collating trial results, reading and correcting the manuscript and for valuable advice from his long experience.

The Author is grateful to his son, Dr. Turlough Guerin, for co-authoring and organizing two articles for the 1992 International Oat Conference at Adelaide, as well as for criticism, co-ordinating reviews, editing and assistance in putting this book together.