WHEAT RESEARCH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 148, 25 June 1931, Page 9

WHEAT RESEARCH

WORK OF INSTITUTE GRAIN FOR PIG FEEDING. THRESHING NOT ESSENTIAL. WELLINGTON. June 23. I Results of researches of importance j to the primary industries throughout I the Dominion were reported to a meeting of tho Wheat Research Institute last week, when findings of interest to wheat growers, millers and bakers, as well as to stock raisers, were placed before the members. A. summary has been made available by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The institute has taken up the question of growing wheat and barley in North Island dairy centres for feeding pigs and poultry. As the North Island ; experiences difficulty in this respect ! through lack of reapers and threshing i machinery the test was conducted at : Lincoln College recently, when pigs were fed upon unthreshed grain. A series of trials, in which the pigs were fed with sheaves and skimmed milk, showed that a pig ate a sheaf a day and that an increase in live weight of 1001 b. was recorded after consumption of 5171 b. of wheat, an increase almost identical with that when threshed grain was fed to the pigs, showing that unthreshed wheat was as economical for pig food as that previously threshed. A similar trial was conducted with barley and equally satisfactory results were obtained. It was thus shown that where North Island farmers can grow either of these crops there is no need to incur the trouble and expense of threshing before feeding wheat to pigs. There was found to be no waste in feeding grain in tho sheaf, and if wheat were estimated as being worth 6s a bushel on a North Island farm, the skimmed milk used returned in pork the sum of one penny a gallon. Superiority of Tuscan.

The institute has also been trying out a Canadian wheat named Garnet, which has a reputation for high pro tein content. This wheat has special value for sowing on turnip ground in the spring, and for spring wheat it gives a fairly astisfactory yield oi grain. Eminently suitable for the manufacture of wheat meal, Garnet wheat has yielded well with grain in the North Island and it shows definite possibilities for use in blending with lower protein wheats for the purpose of improving flour quality. In tho field trials held throughout the South Island, Tuscan wheat has again shown its superiority under almost all conditions, whereas a cross between Hunters and Tuscan, on account of its having tho wrong typo of ear, failed markedly, although it produced grain of good quality. It has been shown that the dense earod group of wheats give particularly good results on heavier lands. The popular wheat, Dreadnought, failed last year to give results comparable with those secured with Tuscan, while the milling quality of the wheat was not so good. Varieties of Wheat Tried Out. The influence of tho particularly drying north-west winds which occurred just before harvest time this season in Canterbury has been reflected in the lower bushel weights which some of this season’s grain have yielded. About 9400 plots have been devoted to breeding trials at Lincoln College already this year, almost double the number laid down last year. The institute is giving particular attention to a cross of Tuscan and White Fife, the latter being one of tho Canadian wheats. Preliminary trials with this crossbred wheat have given good results , as regards milling, extraction and baking quality. Moro than 2700 varieties of wheat collected from many overseas countries are being tried out at Lincoln College, and they are being used for breeding purposes. The supply of seed wheat certified by the institute has not been sufficient to meet the demand, a smaller quantity being certified as, this year, the standard of qualification has been raised. By this means wheat growers throughout Canterbury can be assured of seed wheat of the highest quality.