CREATING NEW WHEATS.

Lake County Press, Issue 1064, 14 May 1903, Page 3

CREATING NEW WHEATS.

Some of the important principles and facts to be observed in cxperi- ! mental work for the improvement of ! plants will be of interest to the gari dener. as well as to the country ' fnrmcr. The individual plant produced from a seed is the most important unit in plant breeding. The " bud unit," though of much consequence in case of marked bud variation, is usually of minor importance. Heredity, centripelal-liko, enables us to ! produce from certain choice plants many descendants which, on an average, quite resemble their parents. Variations, centripetal-like causes the production among the descendants, with many average plants, of a few very good individuals and a few very poor ones, By selecting those best plants which upon trial produce superior progeny, the whole variety may be slightly or considerably improved. Since the plants of each succeeding generation also vary, by repeatedly choosing the best, the variety or race is further improved. ]n many cases crossing increases the average vigour, size, and some other desirable characteristics. In all cases crossing increases variation, a.s a rule, both towards better plants and towards poorer ones, thus giving apportunity for selecting from among the best plants hwiividunls which are superior as progenitors ol" varieties, to any individuals which would have been secured without crossing. New varieties can best be founded upon one to a dozen superior, selected or cross-bred seedling plants used as parents. Very large numbers of individuals must be used from which to select or breed, in order that mother plants may certainly be discovered from which superior varieties will spring. Jn addition to growing large numbers, the breeder of plants should grow all the plants of a given stock under uniform conditions, that they may be accuratelycompared. The testing of the finished variety must include adaptability to the soil and climatic conditions, the cmality and value of the resulting crop, or flower, and the relative cheapness and practicability of its production. GRAIN 1 BREEDING GROUNDS. "Centgener plats," are prepared as follows : " One hundred, more or loss of the seeds, from each of the selected plants are planted in separate nursery plats in the breeding nursery iii the second season, in a manner similar to that under which the seed was grown during the first season. These collections of plants are called " ccntgeners," the word having been originated to mean a hundred plants, more or less, springing from the seeds of a single mother plant." Experiments in breeding wheat thus at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station show that the heavy yeiJding spikes, as well as the j heavy-yielding plants, should be selected. The centgener plan af exper- i imenting has been found expedient in the selection of plants' for greater ability to stand erect. The tendency i " in the blood " of a mother plant to beget a race with stiff straw cannot well be judged with a single plant, but it can with a small plat , of a hundred or more of the progeny ! Recent results from irvcrosses and outcrosses lead to the belief that hybridising is of paramount import- j ance to supply the, best stocks for the more laborious work of selection Hybrid wheats will vary as to the length of time variation continues under rigfid nursery selection, but generally they are reduced to a fixed type in a few generations, this being j accomplished with little special effort while selection for superior yield j and other qualities. The selection of large-yielding individual wheat plants is important j at a means of securing strong plants : to be tested in centgener trials to determine their power of producing plants with large average yields. Extensive trials of new and old j wheats show conclusively that wheats must be specially bred for each of several conditions in Minne- j sota, as well as for each of the ad- ! joining States. By inspection, the i L-hoice of fj per cent, of the best appearing plants nearly always includes the plant which gives the largest weight and superior grade of ;rain. A HEALTHY RACE. Records on the rust resistanoe of 100 progeny of each of numerous larent plants made in percentages l iromise to add materially in finding dood lines which resist rust within .he standard variety and among the dants of the new hybrid. Wheat hy>rids should be grown in quantity luring the first three to live years hat variation may have its full oplortunity ; then the selection of :u peri or plants should be from anong large numbers, say among | ' leveral thousands in the nursery j ( )lats. j ' The results of crossing and hy- I >ridising further show an increase in ! ariation in numerous characteris- | ics, such as the yield, percentage of j ' trotein, etc., and the work as fol- i owed out promises to give good re- j ' ults in breeding for strong chaff to j irevent easy shelling. Natural I rosses have been found to occur, >ut the percentage is very small. In he work of making a strain or var- j c 2ty of wheat from a single or from * everal mother plants, it has been *' he experience that numerous strains ° ach from a single mother plant, and | P rown for eight years in field-test I *• I i lats, have continued to average as ; r inch superior to the parent variety n s at first, and have so far shown ' 4 o signs of deterioration. The best of several tried methods f handling the spike in cross-pollin- .A ting wheat is a.s follows : " Remove j ii ie smaller upper and lower spike- d its and the smaller floret** on the b antral spikelets, leaving 10 to 20 of n

' about the time the first tinge of yellow appears iu the anthers. Coyer the spike with 1 issu« paper. Twenty-four to 48 hours later, when the florets on neighbouring spikes of similar age are opening, bring pollen ! from the plant chosen for the male parent and removing the covering, apply pollen to each floret." 1 " Science Slftings."