Sprout Damage In Wheat Increasing

Press, Volume C, Issue 29436, 11 February 1961, Page 11

Sprout Damage In Wheat Increasing

Sprout damage to wheat has increased, the general manager of the Wheat Committee (Mr L. C. Dunshea) said Last evening.

“A: this stage it would appear from Hagberg tests on more than 1300 lines pf wheat a: the Wheat Research Institute that the incidence of sprout damage has increased in Canterbury, and particularly in M:d and South Canterbury” Mr Dunshea said. “There is little evidence to suggest any serious damage south of this area at this stage.” he said. “It is not known whether this damage in Canterbury w.ll be repeated in subsequently maturing lines. Such lines may yet escape damage caused by the rains a week ago because they were not fully ripe and the grain was therefore dormant.”

Mr Dunshea. the director of the Wheat Research Institute (Mr E. W. Huilett), and the secretary of the New Zealand Flourmillers’ Society (Mr J B Taylor) met on Thursday to discuss the uncertainties expressed by millers as to the maximum degree of sprout damage which could be accepted for milling.

They agreed that millers should be advised to purchase wheat which would allow them to make blends having a Hagberg test number of not more than eight. This is subject to review from time to time.

“This doesn’t mean all wheat samples with a Hagberg test of above eight need be rejected,” Mr Huilett said last evening. “Lines having a higher test than eight can be blended with those of a lower test to keep below the maximum figure in the final product.

“This, of course, is a matter for each miller to decide, according to the wheats available to him.

“The arrangement will mean millers will be able to buy with some confidence and they

are already buying more freely.

“The Wheat Research Institute has issued a bulletin to millers telling them how the Hagberg numbers can be to guide them in making up blends for checking,” Nir Huilett said.

Widespread Incidence

An indication of the widespread incidence of sprout damage in wheat was shown in records of tests made at the institute yesterday. One page of 44 lines tested by the Hagberg method showed an aver-

ge score of 10.5 after two tests of 30 or more had been excluded. A second page of 40 tests averaged 10.5 after two 30 s had been removed. 48 tests averaged 11 less four results of 30. and 50 tests averaged 14 8 after 14 had been deleted. Mr Huilett said that 30 was the limit of the Hagberg method and a result of 30 could, in fact, be much in excess of that score. To Wend the wheat in these lines to give a blend with a Hagberg test of not itiore than eight would be necessary to reject those with the higher scores, he said. Mr Dunshea said that this step was ensuring the utilisation of sprouted wheat to the maximum extent possible by the milling industry. Mr Dunshea and Mr Huilett met representatives of brokers for North, Mid, and South Canterbury and farmers from Mid and South Canterbury yesterday. The difficulties farmers and brokers were having in disposing of wheat rejected for milling because of high Hagberg tests were emphasised and the meeting made several suggestions which will be placed before the Wheat Committee for consideration this Tuesday. In the meantime the buying of sprouted wheat for blending by millers was providing an outlet and some support in the market for farmers, he said. For lines which had been rejected by mills the evidence from past seasons indicated that such wheat would be suitable for feed, Mr Dunshea said, but it was obvious that it all could not be accepted for feed at once.

“Farmers who cannot at present find an outlet for their rejected wheat are recommended to take steps to protect it from further deterioration by either storing it in barns or stacking it under cover,” he said.