INCREASING USE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22445, 27 September 1947, Page 10

INCREASING USE

AMERICAN MAIZE TREND IN GISBORNE SEVEN YEARS’ BUILD-UP j More double hybrid seed j maize has entered Gisborne this year from America than ever j before and larger quantities | have yet to arrive for the coming* ! season's planting. Already one consignment of n I bushels has been placed on the Gis- ! borne market and more than 200 bushels in addition to that order are reported |to be en route-from the American pro- . j ducers, i There will be sufficient double hybrid seed in Gisborne to plant out i approximately 1300 acres with the original seed alone and that area represents more than a quarter oi ( the total area planted last year. , There will be a smaller quantity of , second -generation seed from the double i hybrid available this season compared ] with last. However, third-generation i seed should be in abundance. , 1 A review of -the double-hybrid seed j importations is of interest and cleatly i shows the trend among maizc-giowcis of the district. Hybrid “Discovered” in 1910 The value of the American seed was ' first discovered practically in New Zealand by a Rualoria grower who imported a small quantity of Pfister 360 in 1940. In the succeeding years trials were carried out by other growers in , the Gisborne district using seed taken [ from the first and subsequent craps * | from that original importation. The t I results were surprising. , , After five years, in 1945, 21 bushels •of American-produced double hybrid c entered the district and that seed pro- c duced the large quantities of second- c generation seed available to growers in 11 the country last year. 1 The importations last year fell away j to about seven bushels and that fact t leads to the assumption expressed s earlier that the quantities of second- I generation seed available this year should be smaller. To offset that dis- , crepancy there should be about 330 , bushels* of the original double hybrid available for U le coming season. ", All things being equal, the Gisborne i maize yield should show an improvement next year on last season’s, but much will depend upon the grower, the ■ site chosen and its soil make-up and the climatic conditions.

It should be pointed out that prior to the introduction of the American hybrid, when Gisborne horsetooth and marigold seed were the varieties in demand, 100-bushel-per-acre yields were not unknown. Farmers who gave proper thought to the selection of the area to grow the crop and paid due attention to the working up of the ground and checking weed growth found they were repaid by the top yields. Yields and Averages While the district average yield was not available today, the New Zealand Year Book places the average of 52.03 bushels for the Gisborne. Auckland and North Auckland provinces. The Gisborne district average was thought to be between 60 and 65 bushels, which would include all small patches grown in Gisborne and on the East Coast. The value of experience and varying amounts of due care and attention shown by members of the now-defunct Gisborne Maize-Growers’ Association is borne out by the fact that in the last year of its existence as an association the organisation's average on the Gisborne fiats was 80 bushels. Higher yields have been made possible with the introduction of the hybrid seed. With shelling of the crop planted last year just getting under way in Gisborne yields are not available, although estimates are high. Some yields from out-crop seed from the 1940 importation even in their fifth generation have been above the 120-bushel mark. With second-generation seed 100 bushels to the acre arc attainable and 120 under ideal conditions. Some second-generation seed has produced as much as 135 bushels. Aim of Illinois Grower It has been difficult to secure up-to-date figures on the yields of the double hybrid in its original state, but Mr. H. H. Dods, Repongaere, who has had most experience with this seed, said his average on the farm had been from 90 to 100 bushels, with 120 and 130 bushels to the acre in special areas. His yields for last season are not yet available. ■An exchange from America states that a 175-bushel yield, partly through the use of different seed and thicker planting. is the goal "which the winner of the 1946 Illinois 10-acre corn-growing contest has set himself for this year. He grew 146.88 bushels an acre in 1946. A contest of that nature in Gisborne might be of advantage. Insufficient attention has been paid by some growers in the past to the checking of weed growth and yields have suffered as a consequence. Growers of experience say that the more maize is worked tlie belter the yield. Where paddocks have been used regularly year after year for cropping maize, weeds seed after the maize becomes too high to work and the ground becomes progressively dirtier. To deal with the dirty ground some growers make use of a check planter to enable them to scarify both ways. A harrow is used after the planting and before the crop shows up to catch the first of the weeds. The ground is continually worked to keep the weed growth in check and that goes on until the crop is too high to work. With the sturdier horsetooth and marigold varieties hoggets were, and still are, used to graze in among the crops to keep the ground clean. Hybrid maize in its original state and subsequent generations has created a problem for Gisborne growers. Because the plant is frailer and the cobs lower to the ground it has been found undesirable to use hoggets in .the paddocks growing the crops. Because there is a lighter foliage on the plant there is less shade and that results in more weeds. Closer Planting Trials Experiments are being made with closer planting Lhis year in an attempt to reduce weed growth. That should also lead to greater yields to the acre even if only because of the closer planting. Soil conditions also have much to do with the success of the crop and readers are well aware of the fact that most of the corn companies in the United States have numerous varieties to suit the varying soil types in corn belts. It is not suggested that research be carried out on the Gisborne fiats to define more accurately the soil types to enable growers to select their seed. Differences do exist, however, and no doubt an early survey will be made to assist in other cropping activities. Higher yields are attainable by the majority of growers who have hot in the past given their maize crops the attention they have warranted. It is obvious that climatic conditions play a part and affect: the experienced man as well as the grower learning the hard way. Upon reading this article it will be apparent that the rule-of-thumb method of estimating the value of double-hybrid seed and its subsequent generations may not be quite accurate in general because so much depends upon the individual grower. The rule-of-thumb calculation is that the true double hybrid is 100 per cent., yielding from 100 to 120 bushels to the acre, the second generation drops 10 to 15 per cent., the third generation from 20 to 25 ner cent., and so on as you get further away from the original true cross until it drops to 50 or 60 bushels to the acre with some varieties. The seed has proved itself capable of giving the returns, but much also de"“irfc uDon the grower.