Insurance Against Failure For Clover, Peas and Lupins

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19136, 3 October 1936, Page 13

Insurance Against Failure For Clover, Peas and Lupins

pi, OVER, peas anil lupins can be lusurort against failure by inoculation at an infinitesimal cost, in the same way as lucerne seed is treated. The Plant Research Bureau points out that by making the inoculum cultures in Now Zealand, clovers can be treated at less than fid. an acre.

Under the heading of “Cultures for leguminous crops, ” the department has issued the following statement:— Agricultural scientists have recognised for many years the close association which exists between the root systems of legumes, such as peas, beans, lupins, lucerne and clover, and soil micro-organisms. These micro-organisms live in close association with the plant on whose roots aie formed large nodular masses rich in nitrogen. An important, feature of this association between the soil organisms and the plant is that it renders it possible for leguminous plants to draw on the stores of nitrogen present in the air, and render this available for plant, foods. Lucerne Treatment

Not only is the nitrogen, which when supplied artificially is a most expensive type of plant food, made available to the host plant, to which the nodule is also attached, but also to the roots of non-leguiniuous plants growing in the vicinity. It has long been recognised that there are soils which do not contain these useful organisms. This recognition has applied in particular to lucerne, the successful establishment of which in many parts of New Zealand could not be attained until some means was devised of inoculating tho soil with lucerne cultures.

For the past seven years the Department .of Agriculture has supplied farmers with cultures of the noduleforming organism for the treatment of lucerne seed. In 1029, 280 farmers made use of this culture and the value of such treatment for lucerne has become so widely recognised by farmers that the numbers using it have steadily increased, so that - for the past ■eason the total reached 1358. It is obvious now that, in the ease of most of the lucerne crops which are established, culture treatment of the seed is practised. At the Plant Diseases Division, Palmerston North, great care has been devoted to the preparation of cultures consisting of strains of bacterium which possesses go.od vitality, and this is a feature which requires stressing. In the meantime, a large amount of research work has been done on tho cultures suitable for other leguminous crops. During the past three seasons, in jtorticulnr, experiments have been conducted in association with tho Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture with bacterial cultures suitable for clovers, pens and blue lupins. Many Field. Trials Last season .144 field trials with red and white clover, .13 with pens and eight with blue lupins were conducted, and showed in a large proportion of cases, an obvious improvement in establishment and vigour, wherever inoculated seed was sown alongside uninoculated seed. The results have been so promising that supplies ,of tho culture are now to be made immediately available to farmers throughout New Zealand.

Each kind of leguminous plant requires its own distinct strain of bacterium, though, in the ease of red and white clovers the same strain is quite satisfactory. Continuous research work is in progress also on the strains of nodule-forming bacteria for these and other farm crops, and great care has to be maintained, in order to ensure that the cultures are sent out fresh and of good quality.

Many farmers will recognise that quick and vigorous establishment of clovers is becoming of increasing importance in sowing down pastures with the modern vigorous strains of ryegrass and other grasses which arc now available. Clovers constitute the great * fertility-building element of a pasture, and if better ryegrass and a more balanced stock ration are to be secured, clovers will play a-, very important role in connection therewith.

Cost Negligible It lias been found that, while many New Zealand soils are already well supplied with clover nodule bacteria, many others are not, and even in those soils which are well supplied the use of inoculum promotes a very desirable quick establishment.

This establishment is secured at a very cheap rate, and in the case of the usual seeding of clover amounts to less than fid. per acre, a very small premium t.o pay for insurance failure.

For peas and lupins, inoculum is of even greater importance, more especially on land which has not previously grown such crops. Commercial supplies of inoculum for these crops in the past have been imported to the Dominion,' generally from America. Naturally, The cost ims been high and, owing to the long period which elapses in transit, the cultures themselves arc very often weakened and do not function readily. The cultures are being issued in bottles of four sizes and the smallest size contains sufficient inoculum to treat 301 b. of lucerne, or 151 b. .of clover or 2001 b. of pens or blue lupins. Farmers desiring supplies of these cultures should make the application through the local instructors in agriculture or through the seed merchants, as the department is desirous of facilitating in every way the extensive use of material which it is recognised is a most valuable adjunct: in promoting the growth of these particular crops. As has been mentioned previously, each of these crops requires a distinct strain of inoculum, that suitable for lucerne, for example, being quite useless for the treatment of peas.

This development marks a distinct forward progress which will be of considerable practical value to Xow Zealand farmers who are so vitally interested in tho proper establishment and development of the pastures, and also of such crops as peas and blue lupins,