"NEW TUSCAN” WHEAT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22430, 17 June 1938, Page 12

"NEW TUSCAN” WHEAT

SUCCESSFUL TRIAL OF CROSS INCREASES SHOWN IN YIELD I I REPORT MADE TO RESEARCH I j INSTITUTE i | j A report on the success of trials of I a wheat cross—Tuscan with White j Fife—was received with interest at | yesterday’s meeting of the Wheat Rej search Institute. Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf, i director, said that two families of this i cross had been selected out. Each of i them had survived all the small scale ! trials against Tuscan, and each had j been tried in 11 different localities ! against Tuscan. In the II trials each 1 had proved to yield higher than Tus- ! can in 10 cases, seven of them showing ■ significant increases. J The average of all the increases was I 13 per cent., or more than four bushels ■ | an acre on a 33-bushel yield. j j “It is probable that this increase I will not be realised in practice,” said ] Dr. Hilgendorf, “but it is most likely | that this cross will constantly give a : better yield than Tuscan.” I All the growth characters and flour ] were exactly similar to Tuscan, and i if the cross was put out into commer--1 cial use, it would be called merely j “new Tuscan” to indicate its essential 1 similarity to the old variety.

About one acre of each of the families had been sown under trials and when the decision as to which to keep was finally made-, this would be banded over to the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lincoln to grow on a field scale. Other extracts from Dr. HilgendorTs report stated that Lin Calel. an Argentine wheat, introduced to this country by the Department of Agriculture, was giving somewhat irregular results, but an attempt was being made to find the conditions which would favour the highest quality. A selection of Sensation wheat, made by the Agronomy Division, yielded 2.1 bushels an acre more than Tuscan, stood up very well and baked remarkably well. It was to be further tested in Hunters districts.