Report On Last Season’s Crops

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29910, 25 August 1962, Page 7

Report On Last Season’s Crops

T>ESULTS of commercial trial sowings of soya beans in North Canterbury last season are now available. They are not yet conclusive and Mr D. J. G. Davies, an instructor in agriculture of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, says some time must yet elapse before a final evaluation of the commercial potential of the crop can be made. The relatively low yields obtained in the field had been aggravated by nodulation failure but must also reflect a number of other agronomic factors which had yet to be determined, he said. Results obtained in variety trials were considered to be most satisfactory under the adverse conditions in the past season. It was clear that varieties were now available that would mature sufficiently early in the season to give a reasonable chance of harvesting the crop. The most promising regions for the crop on the basis of last season's experience were the Amberley foothill soils. Woodend sandy loam coastal soils and the YaldhurstHarewood region. The following is a summary of yields obtained from seed imported and distributed by Mr B. F. Lee, a Christchurch poultry farmer, with an allowance made for estimated loss of beans at harvest which ranged from three to five bushels to the acre:

On a Tai Tapu clay loam in the Tai Tapu district the variety, Comet, yielded 11 bushels to the acre.

On a Waimakariri sandy loam a mixture of Comet and Chippewa yielded 10.8 bushels to the acre. On two properties on a Kaiapoi silt loam in the Harewood region Comet yielded 11.6 bushels while _ Chippewa yielded 12.8 bushels. At Woodend where three varieties were grown on a Kaiapoi sandy loam Chippewa yielded 13 bushels to the acre and Comet 11.6 bushels while Harosoy harvested a month later yielded 9.4. In the only row sowings in all the trials the same

variety yielded 15 bushels.

On the foothills soils of the district Chippewa outyielded all other sites reaching the 20 bushels mark while Comet produced only 11.4 bushels. In spite of early sowings both varieties took much longer to become mature for header harvesting in this area. In the United States when beans were first grown, Mr Davies said, yields were no better and even lower than in New Zealand, Mr Davies said that the quality of the beans harvested was considered very satisfactory in comparison with imported beans and a minimum of splitting occurred during threshing. Low Yields The very low yields obtained were due to a combination of factors—primarily drought but also complete failure of plants to nodulate resulting in an estimated 2u per cent, reduction in yield and weed competition due mainly to a delayed strike of fathen.

No difficulty had been experienced at harvest apart from the loss of bean pods at ground level due to header harvesters being unable to cut lower than three inches. It was possible that mowing in front of a header fitted with a suitable pick-up attachment might help to reduce future field losses. From experience gained during the season it appeared that solid sowing of beans in seven inch drills had no advantage over wider row spacings for weed control purposes especially in the absence of reliable weedicides either of a pre- or postemergence type. In one trial 1201 b of seed gave the same yield as 401 b sown in 30in rows.

One farmer reported that ewes and lambs thrived on an area of Harosoy beans abandoned because they were late maturing and had become very weedy. Ln the variety trials the

best three yielding varieties at Lincoln College were Lindarin and Adam which each gave 22.6 bushels and Chippewa 22, while at the other end of the scale were Merit at 17, Norchief at 12.4 and Acme 11.2. At the Crop Research Division at Lincoln the best performers were Comet at 37 bushels, Shelby 33.5 and Grant 26. The lowest yielding varieties were Norchief 13.6, Acme 9 and Lindarin 8.7. In the Woodend trial the highest yielding varieties were Adam at 46.8 bushels, Chippewa at 39 and Capitol at 38. The poorest performers in the same trial were Grant with 30 bushels, Comet 23.7 and Lindarin 14.4. Of the varieties tested in the past season, Mr Davies said Chippewa had again performed well. Other promising varieties for maturity, yield and ease of harvest were Adam, Comet, Grant and Capitol. The earliest maturing variety was Acme, but yields had again been low with Norchief and Merit following a similar pattern. These three because of their early podding characteristics were probably more severely affected by drought than the later maturing varieties which had tended to be favoured by autumn conditions in the most recent season. The best of the later maturing beans had been Shelby, Lindarin and Clark. But as the plots had been hand harvested and subsequently threshed in May the yields obtained did not necessarily reflect early maturity and suitability for harvest. < i No Nodulation As in the case of the comercially-sown areas, there had again been a complete absence of npdulation of the root systems. Dr. I. D. Blair, reader in microbiology at Lincoln College, had reported that the inoculum used was based on Rhizobium strains obtained from the United States. While the. cause of these failures had been difficult to ascertain, it was proposed in future to use a new strain of inoculent isolated in Queensland by the C.5.1.R.0.