MANGEL SEED RESEARCH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 257, 13 October 1932, Page 8

MANGEL SEED RESEARCH

HASTENING GERMINATION.

SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS.

Christchurch, Oct. 12.

Experiments carried out at Lincoln College are stated to have proved that treatment of the seed of mangels with sulphuric acid hastens its germination. Reference to the achievement was made in a farm report to the board of governors to-day. Mr. H. J. Geddes, a member of the staff, has developed the research.

“In New Zealand, and especially in Canterbury, where the soil is dry, one of the worst troubles is the slow germination of mangel seed,” said Mr. Geddes, in an interview. "It often takes two weeks. Last year we tried this ex -imental treatment with sulphuric acid at the college and in laboratory tests the increase in germination was from 40 to 70 per cent. Treated seed was also sown in a field along with control rows. While the treated rows were continuous after germination, there were gaps of one foot to one yard in the controls. Tne main achievement was the much earlier germination of the treated seed.

“With ordinary seed slow germination results in losses, as the soil cakes and hampers growth or destroys it. This year we have treated over 1001 b. of seed for farmers and ourselves. Of course, with small quantities the expense of treatment is necessarily fairly great. At present it is 1/- a pound. That has to be taken into account with other considerations. Mangel seed is normally worth 3/- per lb., and to ensure a gtod strike, farmers sow up to 61b. of seed to the acre. With treated seed the quantity necessary per acre is much less and easily saves the cost of treatment. ’ ’

Mr. Geddes emphasised that treatment should not be carried out by a farmer himself because of the risk in handling the powerful acid. The seed is treated for about an hour in very strong acid, then washed in ammonia, and dried. The result is smaller seed, with the husk removed and the discs covering each of three sections of the seed somewhat loosened to assist germination.