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Perennial Rye-grass.—Seed from the pedigree strain of perennial rye-grass is now widely used in sowing down new permanent pastures. Breeding is being continued to maintain or gradually improve this type. The supply of seed of perennial rye-grass and hence its greater use in the production of new pastures has been curtailed to some extent by periodic attacks of the blind-seed disease to which this type of rye-grass is susceptible. Hence an attempt is being made to breed a strain of perennial ryegrass resistant to this disease. This will be a very long-term project. It has been found that resistance and susceptibility to the disease are inherited characters, and crosses have been made in an attempt to combine this disease-resistance with the other desirable characters of pedigree perennial rye-grass. Italian Rye-grass.—ln recent years an attempt has been made to increase the persistency of Italian rye-grass without reducing the important characters of rapid establishment, early growth, and high first-year production which have already been bred into this species. Persistency trials in which the most recently produced bred line has been compared with other lines have shown in the most recent line 64 per cent, of the plants surviving after the first year compared with no survival in a non-pedigree line. The second-year production of this pedigree line should increase the usefulness of this species. Short-rotation or HI Rye-grass.—This type of rye-grass, which has been evolved by hybridization between perennial and Italian rye-grass, has now been released and is in very keen demand. Different types of this rye-grass have been released for trials. From comparisons of these types under pasture conditions at Palmerston North, Marton, and Lincoln valuable information has been gained as a guide to further improvement of HI rye-grass. Attention is now being directed towards increasing its persistency without reducing appreciably the important characteristic of " out-of-season " production. Western Wolihs Rye-grass.—The requirements in a Western Wolths type of rye-grass are that it will produce, when sown in the early autumn, a greater bulk of feed in the autumn, winter, and early spring than Italian rye-grass. A mass selection of Western Wolths has now been made from plants studied in the field last season and a small seed-supply obtained. This has been sown in pasture trials at Palmerston North and Lincoln in comparison with pedigree Italian rye-grass and with Algerian oats so as to obtain information on the relative value of these three species as a special-purpose temporary pasture. Cocksfoot. —Mass selections have been made of three different types of cocksfoot, and these will be sown this autumn in comparative pasture trials to provide information as a guide to future breedingwork with this species. Concurrently, progeny tests with selected plants of various types are being carried out. Timothy —A nucleus supply of seed has been obtained of a type of timothy very similar in many characteristics to the Welsh Plant Breeding Station S4B. This is a much higher-producing and leafier type than the usual imported or New-Zealand-grown timothy. This nucleus supply of seed will be used for small-scale pasture trials and to provide a nucleus for a larger supply of seed. White Clover. —No further breeding-work with white clover is at present being undertaken, except in so far as is required to maintain the nucleus supply of seed of the pedigree type. Montgomery and Broad Red Clovers—Pedigree seed is available of both of these types and further breeding is being directed towards improvement of these strains. The possibility of producing a highly productive persistent strain by hybridization of Montgomery and broad red clover is also being investigated. Strain Ecology Nucleus-seed Production. —The season has been a most unfavourable one, but even so satisfactory crops of the several grasses have been harvested. The amounts of nucleus seed obtained have been as follows :— Grasslands Division. Agronomy Division. Bushels. Bushels. Nucleus stock perennial rye-grass .. .. .. 16 56| Nucleus stock Italian rye-grass .. .. .. .. 40 198 Nucleus stock short-rotation rye-grass .. .. .. .. 20 163 The nucleus clover crops are very late maturing this year and are not yet threshed. A feature of the grass-seed crops this year has been the high moisture content of the seed when harvested. Some samples were of 32 per cent, moisture content, and these had to be carefully dried and conditioned to approximately 11 per cent, of moisture before they could be safely put into storage. The scheme for the provision of nucleus-stock seed and the contract growing of this to provide Government stock seed is firmly established. For the year 1943-44 the amounts of Government stock supplied to the seed trade were as follows :— lb. Value. Government stock perennial rye-grass .. .. .. 21,860 1,503 Government stock Italian rye-grass .. .. .. .. 29,800 1,539 ' Government stock short-rotation rye-grass, HI .. .. 7,080 464 58,740 £3,506 lb. £ Government stock white clover .. .. .. .. 10,782 2,830 Government stock red clover (Montgomery) .. .. .. 5,556 1,945 16,338 £4,775 Grand totals, grasses and clovers : 75,078 lb. ; total value, £8,281. Government stock seed of HI rye-grass (short-rotation) has been distributed for the first time. Heavy demands for seed of this production are expected in future years, and to meet this the Agronomy Division at Lincoln is growing 8 acres of nucleus seed for next year. Altogether, of the several species, the Agronomy Division has 18 acres set aside for further increase of the nucleus seeds bred and selected at this station. Plot Trials and Strain-testing.—This involves the preparation, sowing, management, and careful noting of some 3,600 plots each year. This means that approximately 2 acres have to be sown annually in small plots 1/2,000 acre in area.

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