CLUB ROOT OF SWEDES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

CLUB ROOT OF SWEDES

As a. result of prlimiuary work at the Plant Research Station, Palmerston North, an experiment, on the con-

trol of club root of swedes was laid down on the Massey Agricultural College farm. Tn this experiment ITern-

ings swede was sown in alternate rows with the Crimson King variety of swede on ground which was heavily infected with club root. Various lime treatments, viz., 1 2-3rd. tons per acre and 3 tons per acre of burnt, lime, and 3 tons per acre of carbonate of lime were, applied to different portions of the ground, three months before sowing the

seed. On each of the lime treatments part of the seed was sown with superlime mixture (50 per cent, super and 50 per cent, carbonate of lime) at. Gcwt. per acre, and part will basic slag at 3cwt. per acre. The results of these

' periments are now available and show that the Kernings variety of swedes possesses a remarkable resistance to attacks of dub-root. In parts of the field the Crimson King variety has been wiped out by the disease, while ’he Kernings adjacent to them are flourish ing. The value of the limo treatments in controlling the disease is disanpoint- : ing but indicates that, had the lime | been sown earlier, a more satisfactory vYntiol would have been obtained. A

surprising result was obtained by the application of 1 2-3rd tons of burnt lime per acre, which at a cost of about £3 13s per acre increased the yield of Hernings swedes by 25 tons per acre above the yield obtained from the unlimed block. The results of the yields and infection counts are as follow:—In the super-lime sown crops the yield of Hernings swedes rose from 13 tons per acre in the unlimed ground to 38 tons per acre in the limed; and the Crimson King from 14 tons per acre in the un limed to 20 tons per acre in the limed , ground. In the slag-sown crops the . yield of Kernings was slightly I >.ss than in those sown with super, but with the Crimson King the yield was slightly increased by the use of slag, in the Hernings swedes only 14 per cent, showed any infection in the nnlinic’ area, and this was reduced to 2.5 pe- cent, in the limed ground. Withthe Crimson King swedes sown with slag the percentage of severely club- ; root infected plants varied from 79 per cent, in the unlimed area to 28 per cent, in the lime, but in those sown with the super-lime mixture the infection varied from 78 per cent, to 61 per cent, in the respective plots. Apart from the areas pulled for calculating the yield the experiment is still intact • and, as before stated, offers a profound ■ demonstration of the resistance of Hernings swedes to club root.