THE WHEAT BUG

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22999, 30 September 1936, Page 10

THE WHEAT BUG

DOMINION INVASION FEARED SAMPLES FROM OTAGO A BASIS FOR INVESTIGATION (Special to Daily Times) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 29. Fears that another insect pest may have invaded the Dominion exist to-day in the minds of some New Zealand scientists. There is evidence in Otago of a certain condition in some of the wheat harvested last autumn which is analagous to that obtaining in the case of the depredations by the wheat bug, an insect which has taken a heavy toll of European wheat fields. The situation is being closely watched, but it will be impossible to determine the question before next harvest.

In communicating the foregoing information to a reporter Mr H. E. West, consultant and technical adviser to a group of New Zealand flour mills, said that early in May three samples of wheat, among others, arrived at his laboratory for baking quality tests. These wheats were milled in the usual fashion, and doughs were made from the resultant flours. During the process of fermentation all three samples acted in a very abnormal manner. Instead of rising, the doughs went soft and sticky, and one, in fact, became so “ runny ” that it was capable of being poured out of the fermentation par like a hick syrup. The immediate conclusion arrived at was that the wheat samples must have been badly sprouted. A close examination of part of the original samples, however, showed that all had been harvested before the rains and were quite free from any sprout damage. Subsequent tests also proved that in this respect the grains were absolutely sound. The only peculiarity noted about the samples was the appearance of many of the grains. The peculiarity was that of a tiny opaque spot easily discernible in clear-skinned grains, but almost impossible to notice on the more mature and whiter grains. Mr West is concerned lest the wheat has been spoiled by the wheat bug, which attacks the kernel in the milk ripe stage, depiasiting a substance which so disintegrates the gluten that the flour is unfit for baking. He does not say positively that the wheat which reacted so unusually was, in fact, spoiled by bugs, but he does think that the behaviour of the flour and the appearance of the grains so exactly tally with the descriptions of wheat damaged by the bug that there is a basis for serious investigation.