BETTER STRAINS OF GRASS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2722, 11 May 1931, Page 3

BETTER STRAINS OF GRASS.

WORK OF SCIENTISTS. TO IMPROVE THE PASTURES. That breeding the right strains of grasses and clovers was just as important as breeding the right strains of animals was one point emphaised by Dr. H. E. Annett, when speaking to Morrinsville farmers. “If you have not got good management of pastures and good strains of grasses you are no,t going to get the response to applications of fertiliser that you should get,” he said. To illustrate his remarks, Dr. Annett showed slides of dense leafy Hawke’s Bay ryegrass and of the less vigorous Canterbury strain. He said it was a great pity to call them after these provinces. The strains should be called permanent and temporary. Most of the ryegrass sown in Waikato was from Hawke’s Bay strains, but in'Taranaki most of it came from Canterbury, and for this reason Taranaki pasture was inferior to that of Waikato. Unfortunately, Hawke’s Bay farmers had become so proud of the fame of their ryegrass that they thought they did not need to top dress. Recently Mr Bruce Levy had been urging them to top dress with nitrogen. Photographs were shown to illustrate the difference in growth caused by an application of nitrogen. Where no fertiliser was used the ryegrass reached only half way up to a man’s knees, but in another section of the field, where nitrogen was used, 'the grass was growing luxuriantly higher than the knees. Many Hpwke’s Bay . pastures were becoming filled with- weeds and inferior grasses, and to remedy this farmers were urged to top dress so that the ryegrass would flourish and smother the inferior grasses. Ryegrass was a gross feeder and responded quicker to fertiliser than other plants in the same field. “There is no white clover which we iqan bring from overseas that can compare with the best white clover here,” said the lecturer when showing views of experimental plots where countless clover plants were being grown and their habits of growth observed. The finest strain was known as “New Zealand White No. 1,” and had come originally from a field at Whenuakura, Taranaki, where there was an exceptionally fine growth of clover. No one knew how it had come there. This strain produced o thick mass of leaves all the year round, and very few flowers, while the ordinary white clover, or volunteer clover, so called because it came up everywhere 'without being sown, produced many flowers and not much foliage. The strain of red clover generally found in pastures was the broad-leaf strain, which died out in a few years. Another strain, the Montgomery, was permanent, and endeavours are being made by the Department to in-' troduce it to New Zealand, so that in time it will supersede the present strains. The temporary strain produced more flowers but flowers were not wanted by pastoralists. “We have cocksfoot strains which are better than they have anywhere else in the world,” Dr. Annett vigorelse in the world,” Dr. Annett explained when a slide showing vigorous clumps of New Zealand cocksfoot and inferior clumps of Danish cocksfoot were shown. Danish had proved to be a “complete wash-out.”

At Massey College they were experimenting with many thousand strains of Yorkshire fog. This might seem a futile task, but it was a fact that many high producing pastures in New Zealand contained a great proportion of fog grass, showing that it had a high feed value. The scientists were experimenting in case an improved strain of fog grass should be needed in the future. In particular they wanted a strain which was not hairy and would not tickle the animals’ throats. Asked what was' the best mixture of grass seed'to sow, Dr. Annett said the only grasses needed were ryegrass, paspalum or cocksfoot, and white clover. In colder districts cocksfoot took the place of paspalum, which would, not thrive there. He thought every mixture should contain some paspalum, because it flourished in the dry weather and kept the cows producing well. He advised sowing 35 to 40 pounds of seed to the acre,; comprising 20 to 25 pounds of Hawke’s. Bay ryegrass, eight pounds of cocksfoot or paspalum, one pound of Timothy and two pounds of white clover. Asked what he thought of subterranean clover, Dr. Annett replied: “It has no place in good grass sward. It is a rotten thing to have in a pasture, although it is palatable to the stock.”