FOOD VALUES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23042, 20 May 1938, Page 5

FOOD VALUES

RELATIONS TO STOCK

NEED FOR RESEARCH

PREVENTION OF DISEASE

BY 0. DB S. BAYLIB

The Director of Agriculture recently stated that while Now Zealand was losing millions through the ravages ot stock and plant diseases, only a few thousand were being spent in research for their prevention and cure. Until, comparatively recently only a limited number of the soil constituents were deemed necessary for plant production. Very large increases have been obtained by adding these, either singly or in combination, to the soil in the form of artificial manures. Inquiries into the nutrition values of foodstuffs, and their relation to disease is opening up a comparatively new science, or more correctly, is affording a new lens through which to regard an old one. This science deals with food values in their relation to plants, stock and human beings. Minor Elements Important

We are gradually discovering that much of the material which was formerly considered as of no value in a soil, is not only of value, but is essential. That many of these ingredients are made use of by the plant, and through the plant are passed on to both stock and humans. On manj soils we are beginning to realise that both plants and stock under the civilised condition of our highly-farmed and heavily-fertilised paddocks are less rooust ana more liable to disease than they used to be in less civilised days >u the open range. It is almost certain that the iressings used year after year, of what may be termed the primary essentials lor plant production, have, by forcing ijig crops, caused a very heavy drain apon many ot the soil constituents, which once were regarded as so much vaste material. Some of these, we are 'ilowly discovering, are what we may ';erm secondary essentials to the food production value, to the health of the ;rop, of the stock grazed thereon, ana of human beings. This, then, is not a farmer's question. i'.t is a national question, because it affects every man, woman and child in New Zealand from the Bluff to the North Cape, as it deals with the food mpply of the people of New Zealand. Kor the same reason it is a question lhat New Zealand has to tackle here n iVpw Zealand because it has its root* in New Zealand soils.. All farmers know that it is not profitable to feed unbalanced rations to stock, for the simple reason that they consume much, but produce little. Such feeding, if persisted in over a long period, results in an enfeebled constitution, disease, and gradual degeneration of the stock. Present-dav practice consists of heavy applications of phosphate, nitrogen, potash and lime, one or more in various combinations. The aim is bulk of high feeding value (fattening properties).

To-day, we have eliminated from out pastures many of the old-fashioned plants and grasses and substituted others of higher fattening quality. Did any of our old friends possess any ot the minor essentials for healthy growth? Every observant grazier knows that stock do not continuously graze upon the richest grasses. There are times when they leave these and resort to rough forage, maybe so-called weeds, 6hrubs, bones, clay, or even soft rpeks. They are seeking certain ingredients to balance their rations, which they have not found in sufficient quantities elsewhere. What do they seek? Why do thev seek it P Extensive Field tor Research These "two small questions open up an extensive field for research in plant and animal husbandry, and we ma) regard man as one of the chief animals affected. It seems likely that unless we hasten to, at any rate, make a beginning in the solution of these questions, that in the future, with everincreasing rapidity, our crops will become more liable to bacterial and fungoid troubles, our stock to disease, and man himself will develop a tendency to rely upon drugs to supply his system with many of the minor constituents:' of the soil, which, by the laws ol nature, he should have derived from the plants which grew thereon, and from the animals which grazed upon the plants which the soil produced. It is suggested that the establishment of a biological research bureau or institute—the name is immaterial, it is its objective and its methods which matter —would go a long way to discover the causes and find solutions of these problems. Such an institution would concentrate upon the following investigations:— Make a soil survey of the soils of New Zealand. Classify these into groups Make complete analysis, chemical* mechanical, qualitative and quanti tative, of typical soils of each group From the mass of information thus gathered, determine a standard of fer tility for each group. Make a botanica 1 survey and a botanical analysis o) typical pastures growing uppn soils ir each classification, and a rough classi fication of such pastures. Determine in each class of soil, and in each class of pasture, the description and quan tity of soil constituents taken up b> individual component plants (various species). Determine the function of each constituent thus taken up bv the plant in the plant's economy. Trace the soi' constituents taken up by the plnnt and consumed as_ forage by the stocV to their final destination in the animal and determine the function of end' in the economv of thf nnimal. ' Question of Nutrition Some of this work has already been done in other countries and their con elusions might be of assistance, bm considering the new light in _ which science now regards the question .ot nutrition, much of this might require checking over. There is much also which can only he done in New Zealand and under local conditions.

It is suggested that, in the long run it would be more economical to expend npon the establishment of a Biological Research Institution or Bureau som<of- that annually recurring loss due to the diseases which are taking so heavj a toll of our crops and stock and menacing the nutritive values of tlv food supply of the people. As thf= Director of Agriculture has pointed out it is already a big drain upon thr resources of the country. The establish ment of such a bureau should be re <rnrded » Wnt Im.iM, 'ticnrnnf" f«' the crops, stock and the men. women and children of New Zealand, since all are fed by, and built up from, the constituents of New Zealand soils. Those who can afford to do so. could not utilise a portion of their wealth for a better purpose than by helping to establish an institution for the purpose indicated. The work it would undertake is of fundamental importance, not to any one class, but to every man, woman and child within our Dominion. Through a thorough knowledge of our soils, it seeks to conserve an'd promote their fertility. With a definite understanding of the requirements of our crops it seeks to supply them with all they need for abundant and healthy growth, so as to guard them against disease and enable them to pass on to stock and mankind that abundance of nutritive values which they have gathered from the soil for the health>and prosperity of mankind.