PASTURE PLANTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21911, 21 September 1934, Page 5

PASTURE PLANTS

IMPROVEMENT OF SPECIES EVOLVING "PEDIGREE" LINES WORK AT RESEARCH STATION Fnr-reaching objectives underly the work in progress at the Plant Research Station at Palmerston North. There is a close correlation with the seed-certification activities of the Department of Agriculture and once improved strains of pasture plants have been evolved they will be made available to farmers by means of the certification scheme.

It is realised that the certified seeds which have been sold in New Zealand can be improved further. The position has been well defined by the agrostologist at the station, Mr. E. Bruce Levy, who has turned to dairying for a simile. "In this industry there are the three divisions of "scrub," grade and pedigree animals. Pasture plants, he has said, fall into the same categories. The "scrub" Bpecies had their vogue before the days of certification; the "grade" species have resulted from certification j and the "pedigree" species will be represented by the improved strains it is hoped to evolve under the processes of plant selection and controlled breeding. Significance o 1 Work

Emphasis on the significance of this strain-testing and strain-building work is hardly needed. Insofar as it will improve production it will cheapen it and it will ensure the greatest possible response from the top-dressing programme. It does, however, impose a wide responsibility on those who are putting it into effect for a variety of aspects has to be taken into consideration. Palatability, nutritional values, disease susceptibility and resistenqe and the ability of the plant to recover after grazing are all factors which have to be studied in determining the worthiness of the species for inclusion in pedigree lists. Throughout all these considerations runs the fundamental one of the plant's ability to reproduce itself true to type. Only those that do can be numbered among the elite, to use a designation conferred by Mr. Levy in his annual report on the work to Parliament.

> Appreciation of the complex nature of the task of building better strains of grasses and clovers can be felt only when the infinite detail involved is revealed by an inspection of the station plots. Grass and clover growing in association, and the same species in singleplant areas, are studied for every movement and for each indication of suitability to soil fertility. Every advance iB noted and every setback recorded. Particularly is the invasion of weeds in the mixed plots observed. The superiority or otherwise of a plant has to be definitely established. Sooner or later the farmer will be expected to translate the findings into routine field practice. Nothing can be left to chance. High-class Pastures Ryegrass, the basis of all high-class pasture, has been the spearhead of the investigational advance. Seed selected for the production of improved types is here tried out along with certified lines. A representative collection of exotic types has figured in the trials, however, and ryegrass from English fieldß nods acquaintance with prototypes from Ireland and Australia, while indigenous lines from old South Island pastures also make a showing. None of them has yet established a claim to equality with New Zealand certified rye, that is, the Hawke's BayPoverty Bay quality, which has set the standard of perenniality. The one exception, perhaps, is ryegrass from the ooastal districts of New South Wales, which produces a growth similar to, although not identical with, the New Zealand certified strain.

There has been a similar experience with cocksfoot. No type tried out to date has come up to the standard of the noted Akaroa strains. Perhaps the least successful has been one from Russia, which has given a most miserable result, and appears to be completely out of environment. The Danish type has tended to coarseness under New Zealand conditions, and does not meet requirements, which are a good leaf-producing strain, with seedproduction qualities in addition. Certification aims at the exclusion of the Danish type and ensures that certified lines are definitely of the Akaroa standard. Essential differences between these two types are that the Danish is not as persistent under grazing conditions, and does not possess the merit of leaf-production in the same degree. Further, New Zealand certified strains grow well in the winter, but Danish cocksfoot is winter-dormant. Improvement of Clover Clover types which perform a vital function in the balancing of high-grade pastures come prominently into the BCheme of strain improvement. Seed selection from superior single plants has already resulted in betterment beyond the standard of present-day commercial types. The trial plots present a striking study in contrasts, especially those given over to the white clover investigations. The best certified New Zealand plants take the palm for excellence as far as dense, strong growth and heavy yield are concerned. New Zealand short-lived white clover is a weak "competitor, although it does fairly well for the first 12 months after sowing, while imported Dutch clover has given a very sickly response, and is considered to be inferior even to the worst indigenous lines. If certification did nothing more than eliminate this species from pasture mixtures, it would have completely justified itself. Even the renowned Kentish wild white clover cannot bear comparison with New Zealand certified strains on the best country, although it might give successful results on hard Bheep country. The best white clovers, it has been found, come from Hawke's Bay and Canterbury, from both of which good supplies of seed should bo forthcoming. Montgomery Red Clover

Montgomery red clover appears to enjoy the distinction of being the only worth-while introduction tested in the present series of trials. It is smallerleaved than the usual New Zealand broad-red type—which is principally suitable for nay and short-rotation pastures —and keeps well down on the ground. It has the merit of growth uring the summer period, in which white clover production is inclined to slip, a characteristic imparted by a deeper-rooting habit, and promises to be of great utility in New Zealand pastures. Types confortning to the English-grown quality are the basis of certification.

Five years ago its use here was unknown, and only in the past two seasons or so has its value been proved. First-harvest seed has shown itself to be equally as good as directly-imported lines, and the germination is better, provided the seal of certification is present to attest its quality.