RESEARCH WORK AT LINCOLN.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20729, 14 December 1932, Page 6

RESEARCH WORK AT LINCOLN.

HALF-YEARLY REPORT. RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS. Tlie many kinds of research work carried out at the Canterbury Agricultural College are described in the half-yearly report up to September 30th, which wavs presented at yesterday's meeting of the College Board. The report covers a great deal of ground, showing"the whole of the .experimental activities of the College. The following are extracts from the report: — Herbage Plants. "Since the issue of'the March report the breeding of herbage plants has advanced a stage in that strain building has been started in ryegrass and red clover. Both these plants are of a perennial nature, and' permanence is one of their most important characters. It is therefore necessary that they be tested over a period of years. The first stage in breeding perennial herbage plants is to collect a large number of plants and test them over a period of from three to four years, at the end of which time the most suitable types are chosen. These are then bred from, by self-pollination or cross-pollination and the offspring are tested over a period of from two to four years. This offspring test gives surprises—some good-looking parents produce very good offspring, others good, bad, and even very bad offspring, it is onlv by subjecting each selection to the offspring test that it is possible to find that plant or combination of plants which will produce the very best offspring. Having done so the next stage is strain building, i.e., building up a line of seed from one or two plants,- usually by making cuttings or by breaking up large plants into plantlets. Pour or five promising strains may be so propagated for one or two years so that sufficient material is ready at once when the final selection is made. "Two strains of ryegrass and two of red clover have been selected by the above methods and have been planted this year in isolated areas for seed production. Cocksfoot. "Two new strains of cocksfoot, C2OO and 067, have been chosen from the 1929 selection Those have been planted out in-the centre of 25 acre wheat crous. protecting them as far as is possible from pollen of unknown cooksfoot. The seed from the strain will be sown in plot trials with Akaroa and C 23, and tested over a period of from two to three years, as was strain C 23. Ryegrass. "Two strains of ryegrass, C 33 and G55, from the 1929 selections havo been chosen for strain building. They have

been planted out in areas one chain square in the centre of wheat crops for shelter pollination. The seed from these will be sown in February next, probably two to three acres, for seed production and isolated as far as possible from other ryegrass; the land for these stands is now being prepared. Small test plots will be laid down, using the best ryegrass available as control. "Five other strains have also been planted in wheat crops, and trial plots will be established from tb,e seed obtained before the strains are further multiplied. Bed Clover. "Observations have been continued on the offspring of the red clover, and strain C4O has been selected for seed production. A group of plants has been planted out in the flower garden as far away as possible from other red clovers The seed from these plants is to be sown in an isolated area for seed production. Last season strain 40 yielded 530 grams per plant, and ordinary commercial yielded 275 grams per plant. fe Pig-reeding Trials. "During the p ast yca r seven lots of pigs have been fed on bran as the principal constituent of the ration. In general the results have been that

without skim milk it is impossible to use bran with small pigs and when fed to big pigs along with one gallon of milk a day the pigs have grown almost as rapidly as they would grow on any other feed. There was not sufficient milk to try milk and bran for weaners, but previous experiences with whey inclines us to the view that even with milk bran would be unsuitable to pigs of this age. "The summary of the experiments carried out was as follows: — "(1) Bran has been fed along with meat meal and with meat meal and molasses to pigs just weaned, and along with milk and molasses to pigs five months old. "(2) For the young pigs the diet was unsuitable and resulted in deaths, absence of thrift, and an unprofitable feed expense. "(3)'For the older pigs, fed with milk and molasses, it was more satisfactory, growth rate was slightly below normal, and with ground bran the feeding was possible with pork at 4d per lb. " (4) For older pigs with molasses only, bran was not profitably used. Sheep Feeding. "Tho results obtained from the win-ter-feeding trials of 1931 were so outstanding, and pointed so strongly to the fact that in tho case of ewes in low condition they should be fed onrly, that this year's winter feeding experiments were'formulated with the idea of confirming or disproving this fact. Unfortunately, tho season was not altogether favourable for the work, since the autumn was very dry and there was only dry feed available to feed the ewes which it was desired to bring up in condition. Had succulent feed been available in the autumn and had there been less grass growth in the winter, the results might have been similar to those of last .year, instead of being inconclusive. "In a trial conducted in South Africa ("Tho Effects of Sulphur on Merino Sheep," by D. S. Steyn, 17th report from Ouricrstepoort Veterinary Research Station) very satisfactory results wero obtained from tho administration, of sulphur to merino sheep. It was decided to carry out a similar experiment at the college, on account of the interest of the question of sulphur and wool production. A line of 32 hoggets was divided into two comparable lots; one lot received 15 grams of sulphur per week and the other Jot wero kept as controls; after three months' treatment, there was no difference in tho average weight of tho hoggets, nor in the wool clip, in either quantity or quality. Feeding Lambs on Turnips. "Three mobs, each of 23 lambs, wor.v fed on turnips for a period of 13 weeks. One mob had turnips only, the second turnips and wheat, and the third on turnips and oat straw. From weighings of turnips made it is estimated that the lambs on turnips only ate about 161b of turnips per head per day; those getting straw, 161b per clay, and those getting wheat, llfb per day. There wore no significant differences in the rates of growth of the different mobs. Tho live weight increase was

about 101b per lamb, equivalent to 4Jib of carcase at 5d per lb, Is 10-Jd. The value of turnips in this trial is therefore just a little more than ljd per head per week, or about 3s per ton of turnips. The lambs receiving wheat ate Is 3d worth of turnips and 3s Id worth of wheat (wheat 4s Gd per bushel) and thus show a loss per lamb of 2s BAd on feed eaten. /'The trial is of interest, in view of the number of enquiries, that have been received about feeding grain to lambs. on fattening crops. Because grain has a well >» marked fattening effect with lambs on grass, and because' it checks scouring and gives a visible improvement in appearance, there is a tendency to use grain, oats, or peas, or wheat, along with turnips and rape. "To date, four trials have been conducted with rape or turnips and grass, and, so far, although there has always been a visible improvement in the appearance of the lambs, this improvement has never been sufficient to pay for the grain used. In the above case lamb would have to be worth about 2s per pound to pay for grain used. Turnips would then be a profitable fattening crop. Grass Manurial Trials. "The pasture manurial trials have been continued as in previous years. The dryness of the season and the poor pasture growth is well reflected in the small number of cuttings made. In all, thero were only five. The results are set out in the following table:— "July applications give an average increase of 46 per cent.; October, 30 per cent.; January, 3.5 per cent.; April. 40 per cent. "The 1931-32 season is the second complete one since the new plot arrangement was adopted. There are, however, in each manurial treatment some plots which have been manured and cut for three years. The figures from these, which include only half the normal number of replicates, and which, therefore, do not necessarily agree absolutely with the previous quoted averages, illustrate in a striking manner the cumulative effect of annual top-dressing. These increases are all the more remarkable for the fact that