WHEAT YIELD TESTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 135, 20 March 1931, Page 2

WHEAT YIELD TESTS

TUSCAN SUPERIOR. WITHSTANDS STRONG WINDS.' (Special to “The Guardian.’'’) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The outstanding feature of! the results of the trials for the yielding powers of wheat strains is the relative yield of solid straw Tuscan, which aptpears superior jto all other varieties, with the exception of solid straw Velvet and Victor. This is the conclusion arrived at. by the plant breeder in the trials conducted on the Wheat Research Institute’s field at Lincoln College, and' upon which a report was presented to the committee of the Institute yesterday. It must not, however, he overlooked that varieties, especially the earlier ones, were subject to the attacks of a series of severe north-west winds, which shook out a large proportion of the grain, states the report. This may to a certain extent explain the relative failure of some varieties which yielded equal to or higher than Tuscan iu most of the previous seasons, especially Hunters, Velvet and Dreadnought.' Solid straw Velvet retains its place as the variety with the highest yield performance, and Victor follows next in, last year’s trials. Early Sowing Advantageous. It appears that none of the varieties was able to approach Tuscan in yielding capacity. It has, however, been pointed out in previous reports that very probably these high-quality varieties would find relatively more suitable conditions on lighter land. Experiments on light land in various localities are anticipated* for the coining season.

This trial had ibeen sown in nine series, five in autumn, and four in spring, with the object of determining both quality and quantity of the produce for either sowing period. Unfortunately, a heavy fall of rain damaged parts of the spring crop so badly as to preclude accurate yield determinations. However, the spring crop was so obviously poorer in yield than vhc autumn crop that tlie scale was not needed to show the distinct advantage of an early sowing' also for these varieties.

Milling samples were secured from both sowings, and the baking test will show whether any remarkable difference in grain quality would justify lhe considerable loss in yield incurred bv spring sowing, as compared with autumn sowing. It is intended to conduct a similar trial on light land at Cust, in order to investigate in one of the present centres of the cultivation of Garnet, whether the present method of springs sowing lias any economic advantage^. If any conclusions of a general nature are allowed from one year’s trials, it will appear that the time factor is not of equal importance in New Zealand and m England. Ear production appears to be limited by other factors beside time. The nitrogen supply in the early stages of growth might be one of these limiting factors. Experiments on this problem were initiated', and their continuation is intended for the coming season.

General Conclusions. “After two years of analytical yield investigations,”, slates the report, “we have reached, the stage at which conclusions can lie drawn for the direction of the future work. Even now it can be stated that these investigations revealed the striking polarity between Tuscan on one hand, Hunter’s, Yeoman, Victor, etc., on the other hand, with distinct differences between the various varieties; that solid straw Velvet assumes an intermediary position, to a high degree combining the advantages of either group, on a high rate of eat production, and, probably', a high rate of tiller survival; that car size is of special importance on both classes of land'; that Tuscan, owing to its high ear production, will range as the most important parent form, especially for lighter classes of land; and that solid straw Velvet, and not Hunter’s, will be the parent type for heavier land, unless some of the heavy yielding English varieties were to receive preference. “The investigations on the influence of spacing have yielded valuable supplementary results, and which appear sufficiently conclusive to allow of thenbeing terminated. It is intended to carry on with ail analytical observation of standard varieties for another season.

“The analytical treatment of a problem of wheat cultivation seems to have yielded valuable information, more so than could have been obtained from an ordinary yield trial. A similar result is expected from the analytical manurjal trials. This indicates a wide applicability for this method of yield determination.”