PLANT RESEARCH BUREAU

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 November 1938, Page 11

PLANT RESEARCH BUREAU

IMPROVED EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES

TRIAL PLOT CO-ORDINATION THROUGHOUT NEW ZEALAND

rig the pasture trials in the Nelson ; to Grasslands Division of the Plant rth. It will be of interest to give au of the Department of Scientific le Grasslands Division forms a part. Research and Agriculture, the agricultural colleges and Cawthron Institute can be readily available to deal systematically with all aspects of any crop problem. IMPROVED FACILITIES At the outset, the Plant Research Bureau, which grew out of the Plant j Research station, was handicapped seriously by lack of land and laboratory facilities for research. Consequently new buildings have been erected at Lincoln for the Agronomy Division, at Nelson for the Entomology Division, and at Palmerston North for the Grasslands Division. At Mount Albert, Auckland, 17 acres of land have been acquired and a fine three-storeyed ferro-concrete laboratory for the Plant Diseases Division is now nearing completion. By the end of this year the whole research staff will be working under greatly improved conditions. The Plant Disease Division is very closely associated with fruit problems, a number of which is investigating in I the Hawkes Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association’s orchard at Havelock North. The orchard spray certification system introduced by this division, which thoroughly tests each specific and establishes its efficacy, provides the orchardist with very valuable information to guide him in his purchases and applications. I The division, in collaboration with i the Seed Testing Station, has ascer- ) tained that it is a fungus which is j responsible for the loss of vitality which periodically occurs in perennial , ryegrass seed and is still engaged in I studying methods for its possible conI trol. Virus diseases of potato, market garden and tobacco crops, dry rot and clubroot of turnips and maize smut .are also being dealt with by this j division, which also provides the bacI terial cultures which are proving so i effective in promoting rapid establishment of hicerne. NEW FARM INDUSTRY Concerning lucerne, the Agronomy Division at Linceln lias made good progress in the selection of improved strains of this crop, and there are two lines under test which give promise of better yields than those secured fi’om the present Marlborough and Hunter River varieties, which are generally grown. Similarly, this division has made available a limited amount of seed of special selections of Grant and Broad Leaf Essex rape Which is proving very satisfactory to sheep farmers. Breeding and selection work with field and garden peas is also a feature of the Agronomy Division’s work, and the time is ap- ! proaching when it is hoped to issue j varieties which will be in advance of i the present Greenfeast and Yorkshire IHero garden peas and of the Blue Prussian and White Ivories for the boiling and split pea market. The divis- [ ion also has been interested in the introduction and trials of the improved I Liral varieties of linen flax, with a view to gauging the possibilities of ths crop | for starting a new farm industry in the | Dominion. Recently a scientific officer j has been appointed to the staff of the 1 division to undertake the study of horJ ticultural crops.

In yesterday’s issue in describinj district frequent reference was made Research Bureau at Palmerston Nor details of the Plant Research Burea and Industrial Research, of which the Since the inception of the Plant Research Bureau of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research some two years and a-half ago good progress has been made towards providing improved facilities for the promotion of research work into all aspects of agriculture concerned with the growing- of crops. Through the various divisions of the bureau provision is now made to assist by research all classes of the farming community in the solution of their pasture, field, disease, insect, and weed problems, and at the present time all those of prime importance are receiving attention. This research work has come under the control of a thoroughly representative committee. The Plant Research Bureau Committee comprises the Director-General of Agriculture as chairman, the secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the director of Cawthron Institute, the principal of Massey College, the director of Lincoln College, the director of the fields division of the Department of Agriculture, and a repre- i sentative of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, as well as a North Island and a South Island farmer. This committee of nine meets quarterly, reviews all plant research work, initiates new projects, and deals with all expenditure for the work. Moreover, in addition to administering research, it also co-ordinates this work with the educational functions of the) agricultural colleges and the instruc- j tional service of the Department of J Agriculture and ensures that there is a full collaboration between all those; concerned. The very representative and | executive nature of the Plant Research Bureau Committee puts it in a position to ensure ready and full col- j laboration of staffs and facilities upon | any research project, thus saving ex-1 pense and unnecessary duplication and | overlapping. FARM RESEARCH SERVICE During the past two years the committee has been giving a great deal of attention to the many details involved in the provision of an efficient farm research service, and its achievements have been very sound, and a Dominionwide research organisation has been built up. In the main the Plant Research Bureau functions through five main divisions, the Cawthron Institute and Mas»ey Colleges. The five research divisions are:— (1) Plant diseases at Mount Albert, Auckland; (2) Grasslands, Palmerston North. (3) Botany, Wellington: (4) Entomology, Nelson; and (5) Agronomy, Lincoln. The head office and administration' of the bureau is in Wellington. The! divisions are located so that the whole [ Dominion is provided for as far as possible and to facilitate ready co-oper- [ ation with institutes already established such as agricultural colleges and j Cawthron Institute. It will thus be seen that the Plant j Research Bureau organisation affords a means whereby the Depart- J ments of Scientific and Industrial I

PASTURE SURVEY The grassland division has been actively engaged in the conduct of the pasture survey. This work forms part of the land utilisation survey in which both the Department of Scientific and Industrial Rsearch and the Department of Agriculture are co-operating with a local committee. The greater part of the province has been mapped out now, the principal area not done yet being that lying between the Eslc and the Wairoa Rivers. In the trial areas at Palmerston North selection and breeding are being carried out on an extensive scale with all the main pasture grasses and clovers, while a very wide range of strains and species secured from overseas countries are being systematically tried out. In cooperation with the Dairy Research Institute and with Massey College actual I feeding trials of different individual | grass and clover strains separately and in combinaton are being conducted wth dairy cows, and proposals are approaching finality when these will be extended to sheep. SEED CONDITIONING In view of the importance of the grass seed trade, the grasslands division has arranged for some seed conditioning trials to be undertaken in rotary driers for the purpose of ascertaining whether by proper drying 5 and packing before export New Zeai land seed may reach overseas destina- ! tions without loss of germinating power. Already the better clasg lands of New Zealand are benefiting from the more general use of improved strains of pasture plants issuing from the division and maintained in standard through the certificaton system of the fields division of the Department of Agrculture, and now attention is being devoted to pasture types suitable for improving hill country grazing.

The botany division has been devoting attention to the serious problem of ragwort, and to-day there is available for all those engaging upon control measures of this weed a much fuller knowledge of the botanical characteristics of the weed. Its remarkable capacity- to regenerate from small roots, its comparatively small rate of spread by wind and birds, the readiness with which the seed germinates in streams, and its moisture requirements for sprouting are among some of the findings. Also the difficulty it experiences in becoming established in a close turf has been shown by actual trial, and this alone gives an indication that attention given to the development of a close sward may be a more ready means of control than drect attack upon the plant itself. Although not completely efficient, no specific has yet shown advantages over sodium chlorate as a control for the weed.

COMBATING INSECTS The entomology division is located at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, so as to permit ready collaboration with the already well-established entomology interests there. A main feature of the work is the introduction and study of insect species likely lo check white butterfly and diamondback moth, the two serious pests of turnip, rape and cabbage crops. An officer of the division is at present in Europe searching for species that are likely to prove useful for these purposes. The peteromalus parasite of the white butterfly has proved fairly successful except in certain seasons, such as was the case last year. The causes of this failure are being studied and also the possibility of using parasites which will attack the butterfly in the egg, larvae and adult stages. Insects affecting the wheat crops have been closely studied and reported on, while those affecting lucerne and cocksfoot, grass grub and grass caterpillar are among others now receiving attention.