Tobacco Research Aimed At Quality Improvement

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31327, 25 March 1967, Page 21

Tobacco Research Aimed At Quality Improvement

A new research programme aimed at improving the quality of tobacco grown in New Zealand, and thus enabling the local product to compete more successfully with imported leaf, is now being carried on by the Tobacco Research Station of the Crop Research Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, at Motueka. In the past, the station’s main concern has been to increase tobacco yields. It has developed high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties and cu v ural techniques that have helped growers to raise their average production of leaf an acre from 6401 b 30 years ago to 17401 b today. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that New Zealand growers must match the quality of imported leaf if they are to claim a larger share of the supply to manufacturers. The manufacturers are required, by law, to use not less than 30 fer cent New Zealand leaf, or anything above that statutory minimum, domestic growers must compete with those of other countries.

At present, about 50 per cent of the tobacco used in New Zealand is grown here, but it is becoming more diffi-

cult for growers to hold this share of the market, let alone increase it, because tobacco quality has been improved overseas at a faster rate than it has in this country. There is no lack of overseas experience in the team that is attempting to remedy this situation. In charge of the research programme is Mi- R. W. James, formerly assistant chief research officer of the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture. He has been associated with tobacco research for the last 15 years, first in Rhodesia, then in Zambia, and since June of last year as officer in charge of the station at Motueka. Among those assisting him are the station’s plant breeder, Mr D. S. C. Wright, and two officers seconded to the station by tobacco companies—Mr E. Werthmuller from Rothmans and Mr M. Hay from W. D. and H. O. Wills. Mr Werthmuller was formerly manager of a large tobacco-growing estate in

Rhodesia, and Mr Hay is a New Zealander who has studied tobacco growing in the United States. The big need, according to Mr James, is for New Zealand to change from the broadleaved types of tobacco grown here to the narrow-leaved types now generally favoured overseas. Virginia Gold, a broad-leaved tobacco commonly grown in New Zealand, can give extremely high yields—as much as 30001 b an acre in exceptional cases—but its quality suffers when the yield is pushed beyond about 14001 b an acre. With some of the narrow-leaved tobaccos, yield and quality go hand in hand up to much higher levels of production. The Motueka station’s present programme is based on two narrow-leaved varieties—Hicks, a world-wide standard, and Kutsaga 51, a variety bred in Rhodesia. With both of these, high quality can be maintained up to yields of 20001 b an acre. "The problem is not one of searching for a variety,” says Mr James. “It is to find out the optimum conditions for

growth of these varieties in the New Zealand climate.” Tobacco quality cannot be judged by any simple criterion, but is made qp of a whole complex of physical, chemical, visual and textural characteristics. Factors that have to be taken into account include the feel of the leaf surface, the maturity of the leaf, the shade and evenness of colour, the tensile strength, the length and width of leaf, the uniformity of groups of leaves when put together, their tolerance for injury or disease, and the amount of waste that can be expected when manufacturing from them. Most of these factors can be influenced at least as much by cultural conditions as they are by the variety grown.

For the next few years, the major activity of the Motueka station will be the testing of the effects of different fertiliser treatments, of ridging as against flat cultivation, of topping at different times, etc., on the quality of Hicks and Kutsaga 51. These studies are being made at 15 sites in the tobacco-growing district, giving as wide a range of soils and climatic variation as possible. The results of at least three years of such trials will be needed before definite recommendations can be made. “But we are being pushed,” says Mr James. “The growers and manufacturers would like to have this information now, and we are not in a position to give it. The best we can hope for in this first year is to be able to give some indication of the recommendations we are likely to make.”