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Cross 7 now covers more acres and yields more millions of bushels of wheat than any other variety. Tainui and Taiaroa will apparently fill special niches as spring wheats, and are fulfilling nearly all the promise they held out when they were distributed. The loaves from Tainui are practically as good as those from Jumbuck. Fife-Tuscan was grown on nineteen farms, and the threshing returns indicate, as exactly as could be expected, that it will yield better than the original Tuscan. One new wheat (Cross 64), whose quality is equal to that of Marquis, has been brought almost to the point of distribution. Careful consideration of the position, however, has led to the decision not to distribute this variety because its superiority over Marquis is only slight and it is not advisable to multiply varieties unless they fulfil some special function. Durum wheats have been grown and selected in preparation for the possible manufacture of macaroni in New Zealand. Laboratory Work. The service work of the Institute to farmers, millers, and bakers continues to expand, and there is evidence that this, together with the work on wheat-breeding, is steadily improving the quality of New Zealand flour and bread. The most interesting development from the research work done during the year has been the liberation of the process for incorporating wheat-germ in white bread. The process consists of the destruction of glutathione by preliminary fermentation of the germ with yeast. It has been somewhat extensively adopted by bakers in New Zealand and in other countries as well. The consumption of wheat-germ now indicates that in New Zealand about forty-five thousand 2 lb. loaves of wheat-germ bread are being made each week. The process aroused a considerable amount of interest overseas, because the fortification of white bread with vitamin is being discussed in many countries, and the inclusion of wheat-germ is one of the best methods of supplying that vitamin. It has always been recognized, however, that the supply of vitamin Bj through germ alone has limitations in respect of quantity. A means has been devised for testing with sufficient, accuracy for practical purposes the quantity of wheat-germ added to any loaf. In an extension of the investigations of which the wheat-germ bread was a result, another factor of fundamental importance was discovered. This is that low-grade flours—-i.e., the fraction obtained when 70 per cent, extraction is pushed to 80 per cent—can also have their glutathione destroyed by pre-fermentation. Thus 80 per cent, flour can make bread practically as good as that made from 70 per cent, flour, if its lowest grade 10 per cent, fraction is pre-fermented with yeast. This fact is of very great importance, especially in war-time, for its application increases by 12 per cent, the proportion of the wheat grain that can be suitably used for human food, it maintains the palatability of the war loaf, and it increases at least to some extent the nutritive value of white bread. From the research point of view, however, the work is of interest chiefly because it opens up new ideas on the effects produced by yeast during its fermentation of dough. These ideas, if supported by the experimentation now in progress, may cause fundamental changes in our conceptions of panary fermentation. Consideration of overseas work on the physical properties of doughs, combined with experimentation here, has led to a clearer conception of certain reactions of the dough during fermentation, chiefly during the final proof. This has alreadly led to improvement in practice, especially in making wholemeal loaves. Further work has been done on the drying of wheat in bins and special driers, in preparation for the possible onset of a wet harvest season. A method of testing the moisture content of a wheat in the field has been developed. The apparatus required can be made for under 10s., is simple in use, and, while it does not provide an absolute measure of moisture-content, it is sufficiently accurate for the purpose for which it is designed. Publications. " Note on the Use of Yeast to destroy Glutathione in Wheat-germ and Low-grade Flour for Breadmaking," by E. W. Hullett. N.Z. Jour. Sci. & Tech., 22, Ib. (1940.) " Biological Elimination of Glutathione from Wheat-germ and Flour used in Breadmaking," by E. W. Hullett and R. Stern. (In the press.) " Convenient Measurement of Gassing Power with Dough under Constant Pressure and with Elimination of Gas Solution," by E. W. Hullett. (In the press.) " Studies in Hebe—ll : The Significance of Male Sterility in the Genetic System," by O. H. Frankel. Journal of Genetics, 40, 171. (1940.) " The Causal Sequence of Meiosis —I: Chiasma Formation and the Order of Pairing in Fritillaria," by O. H. Frankel. Journal of Genetics, 41, 9. (1940.) " A Critical Survey of Breeding Wheat for Baking Quality," bv 0. H. Frankel. Jour, of Aqr. Sci., 30, 98. (1940.) " Fife-Tuscan Wheat: A New Variety for ' Tuscan Land,' "byo. H. Frankel. N.Z. Jour. Sci. & Tech. (In the press.) " Field Experiments and War Production," by 0. H. Frankel. (In the press.)

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