BIRDS DO NOT LIKE THEM

Press, 9 June 1978, Page 15

BIRDS DO NOT LIKE THEM

Many crops grown for the oil content of their seeds are attractive to birds when ripe, but one crop being tested by scientists of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research shows promise because it has a built-in bird deterrent. The crop is safflower, which has spiny seed heads and foliage. Unlike sunflower, another crop with potential for vegetable cooking oil production, safflower is not attacked by birds when ripe. The crop grows well in New Zealand conditions, but is susceptible to botrytis, a fungus disease which is serious during'

wet summers, occasionally | causing the loss of most of the seed heads. Scientists of the Plant Physiology and Crop Research Divisions have isolated strains of safflower partially resistant to botrytis and are now crossing them with high-yielding strains from America. If the two factors of disease resistance and high oil yield can be bred into one strain, a valuable new industry could be added to New Zealand’s agricultural sector, saving scarce overseas funds or even laying the foundations of an export industrv, according to the D.S.I.R.