This experiment was carried out to determine harvest date and cultivar effects on the agronomic characteristics, forage yield, and quality of fall sown oat (Avena sativa L.) at the forage experimental field, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Suweon from August to November 1993. The experiment was arranged in a split plot design with three replications. The main plots were consisted of the harvesting dates, suchas early (11 October), mid(21 October), and late(1 November), the subplots were consisted of different maturities of oat cultivars, such as 'West', 'Cayuse' and 'Magnum'. The first heading date of an early maturing culivar, West, was observed on 10 October, and the heading increased up to 30% at the late harvesting date. The average dry matter (DM) content of oat cultivars increased significantly from 12.8 to 15.9% as the growing stage progressed(p<0.01). The average dry matter percentage of West, Cayuse, and Magnum was 15.4, 13.4, and 13.5%, respectively. The crude protein (CP) content of oat cultivars decreased significantly from 20.1 to 13.3% as the harvesting date was delayed(p<0.01), and the CP contents of midseason and late maturing cultivars, Cayuse and Magnum, respectively, were significantly higher than that of an early maturing cultivar West (p<0.01). The mid harvesting date showed the highest acid detergent fiber(ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents than the other harvesting dates, and an early maturing cultivar West had higher ADF and NDF contents than the midseason and late maturing cultivars, Cayuse and Magnum, respectively. The in vitro dry matter digestibility(IVDMD) of oat cultivar West decreased as the harvesting date was delayed, but that of Cayuse and Magnum decreased only by the mid harvesting date. Cayuse and Magnum showed 3~4% higher digestibility than West. The correlation coefficient between IVDMD and ADF content was -0.86. The average dry matter yield of oat cultivars increased from 2,901 to 5,901kg/ha as the harvesting date was delayed(p<0.01), but no significant difference was found among oat cultivars. The corrdelation coefficient between DM yield and gorwing degree days(GDD) was +0.86. The results of this study indicate that a delay in harvesting date would be recommendable for the increase of dry matter yield when fall-sown oat is grown. Especially, the DM yield of the midseason and late maturing cultivars, Cayuse and Magnum, respectively, can be increased without much change of forage quality although the harvesting date are delayed.