A Promising Crop Of Soya Beans

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 9

A Promising Crop Of Soya Beans

When he saw an eight-acre crop of soya beans on the property of Mr G, P. Griffiths at Tai Tapu this week, Dr. I. D. Blair, reader in microbiology at Lincoln College, said that it was the best field crop of soya beans he had seen.

“If you can get these bciiiis In the bags it shows that you can grow soya beans in certain circumstances,’* he said. Dr, Blair has been associated with investigation of soya bean growing in Canterbury over a number of years and as a result of trial work he has not been very optimistic about the prospects of growing the crop commercially here. The crop is being grown commercially in Canterbury this year for the first time. Some 30 acres is being grown at Tai Tapu and Greenpark and in the Kimberley and Darfleld areas. Mr D. J. G. Davies, a farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, said that an American seed company, which deals in soya beans, had contracted for growing on selected sites a variety that had been specially selected for human consumption. In spite of the past history of

soya bean growing In Canterbury the company had decided, at its own expense, to investigate further the possibility of midtiplying the seed of this variety here. It had been proposed that a proportion of this seed would be re-exported to the United States for further multiplication over there this summer. When he showed a group of scientists, officers of the Department of Agriculture and fanners, who are growing tiie crop, Mr Griffiths’s crop this week, Mr Davies recalled that the seed had been late in arriving and it had not been sown till about the beginning of December when they would have liked to sow about the second to third week of November. Why had the crop been so much better than crops grown previously? Dr. Blair asked. Mr Griffiths said that the crop had been sown out of clover based pasture after only about two weeks of quick cultivation and no fertiliser had been used. The crop had

been treated once with a rotary weeder and had also been inter-row cultivated once. The site was a fertile one (Waimairi peaty loam), he said.

Mr Davies said that nodulation had been successful. A standard American soya bean culture had been used. A sticker had been provided with it and a molybdenum based additive.

For the first time where weeds had always been a problem the beans had been sufficiently strong to combat the weeds, he said.

Although, he said, no one should Imagine that the crop was easy to grow, this crop had actually been produced with a minimum of effort. He thought that a further advance would be the use of a precision seeder for sowing to increase the density of plants and to give greater yield.

At a later stage in the day when the crop on the Darfleld property of Mr R. L. Bennetts, a farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture, was being inspected, it was stated that the beans seemed to like growing fairly close together and there could be a shelter effect involved.

Mr Davies said that the American interests which had supplied the seed had suggested a 40 lb to the acre sowing rate, which was a low

one. In the paddock at Tai Tapu he said that they had sowed at about 35 lb to the acre in one part and then increased the rate to 40 lb to 45 lb. He pointed out that there was some difficulty in getting an even distribution through the grain drill with the seeds tending to stick together and build up and then spill out in clusters. This was due to the seed not being sufficiently dry after inoculation.

This was certainly the first time in the field that inoculation had been achieved Dr. Blair said, but he discounted a suggestion that this represented a major break-through in the growing of soya beans. Dr. Blair said he was. doubtful if inoculation was the factor responsible for the success of this crop. He thought that it was rather a fertility factor. He thought it was confirmation of the fact that the best soya bean yields were obtained in areas of high fertility in Waikato, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury.

But nodulation could be important for the general thrift of the plant and tits resistance to disease, he said.

Dr. C. T. Dougherty, who is conducting trials with soya beans at Lincoln College, said later that the effect of nodulation would be to increase a crop yielding 40 bushels to

the acre to 45 bushels. After pasture where the soil was high in nitrogen, be suspected that there would be little or no response to nodulation, he said. Soil temperature was rather a critical factor in the success or otherwise of the crop. It seemed that there had been some physiological factor limiting the way the beans grew. It was a relatively shallow rooted plant and was no doubt susceptible to drying out of the soil. It had been regarded as a low fertility demanding crop, but in the United States recently a yield of 93.7 bushels to the acre had been recorded.

Mr Davies said he unde* stood that in 12 trials in the United States, a new variety called Amsoy had averaged nearly 50 bushels to the acre (apart from the main crop this ig one of eight varieties being grown on Mr Griffiths’s property in small plots for observation).

Mr Bennetts Mid that he thought that it was necessary to select areas that were fairly fertile and well sheltered. Dr. Blair said the evidence seemed to be that there were soils which would grow the beans provided that the farmer got his money back for the effort. What was the Tai Tapu pad. dock going to yield? Mr N. L. Shillito, farm advisory officer (seed production) of the department, suggested 30 bushels, but Mr Bennetts thought that the yield would be better than that and Dr. Blair’s view was that it would be nearer 40 bushels. Later some of the group also saw the crops on the property of Mr H. E. Jenkins at Kimberley and Mr Bennetts at Darfleld. Mr Bennetts has about 10 acres in beans and Mr Jenkins only a small area of an acre or two. Mr Jenkins’s crop was sown about December 8 and was hoed three times with a mid mounted hoe. Although a little weedy at this stage the beans look very healthy indeed. Mr Bennetts’s crop was sown about December 4 and has had one rotary weeding and also an inter-row cultivation. Mr Bennetts Mid that the crop seemed to be still making good growth and this indicated that with earlier sowing there would have been additional bean development before the crop matured. In both these crops an attack of thrips resulted in about a month’s loss of growth prior to spraying. Reviewing results with these crops which will be harvested next month, Mr Davies said that sowing could probably be done from mid-No-

vember to mid-December. With the earlier sowing the crop would tend to mature a little earlier. It was desirable that weeds should be got rid of in the cultivation process and in general the cur-

rent cultivation practice* In) preparation for barley and peas could be followed. Where very weedy areas were being used he said that a preemergence spray (Amiben) should probably be used as well a* a rotary weeder. A watch should be kept for thrlps, that would build up in dry periods particularly, and also for caterpillars. With harvesting there could be a problem with varieties - that had pod* near the ground but it was desirable where possible to avoid mowing a crop and handling it a second time as there would be some wastage of bean* with each operation. Mr Davies said that more work needed to be done on varieties best suited for particular Mil types. And how do farmers react to the crop? Mr Griffiths said he was interested in the crop provided that there was an economic return from it It actually benefited the ground more than peas and eartier in the day Mr Davies mentioned that in the Greenpark area a tamer had noticed that following an earlier bean crop he had had to drop the header down a gear when harvesting wheat on the area that had been in beans. Mr Griffiths said he thought it would fit into a rotation with wheat following soya bean* and then grass and white clover, or perhaps spy* beans could be grown again after wheat Mr Griffith* said that for hi* present crop the conditions had not been the most favourable. It had been sown late and the cultivation period had been abort Using a pre • emergence treatment could be an important aid in overcoming the weed pro-

blem, and he would bo prepared to go into a more open paddock believing that wind damage was not so important as was felt In some quartets. Mr W. N. Dunlop, who is also growing beans, said that it represented another option to the farmer for a spring crop. He thought that there was no doubt that it could be grown successfully and it was fair to suppose that they could do better yet using better techniques and also varieties more suitable for their conditions. It was not likely to be a suitable crop for ground that lay wet in May, however.

Mr Bennetts said that he would be prepared to try again provided this' sort of seed was available again and it was a payable proposition. Both he and Mr Jenkina thought that they would be able to grow the crop better in the future. Mr Bennetts said that weeds did not seem now to be an undue problem and Mr Jenkins thought that um of the precision seeder would be an important advance.