ROUND THE RESEARCH STATIONS

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 101, Issue 2, 15 August 1960, Page 114

ROUND THE RESEARCH STATIONS

Current Work and Findings in Department of Agriculture and Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Trials and Experiments

Rukuhia

Lucerne in the Waikato

As part .of the spray irrigation research programme being carried out at Rukuhia Soil Research Station the resoonse to irrigation

kJ LclL-LkJll LI IV. II.OpUIIOL LVJ llllgauvii of various farm crops is being studied. Most recent crop to come under trial has been lucerne, a stand of which was sown in the spring of 1958 on an area of Horotiu sandy loam of low fertility. Establishment was good and measurements began in September 1959. The irrigation treatments applied were: (1) No irrigation, (2) irrigation at 4 in. deficit (normally two to three waterings of 4 in. per season), and (3) irrigation at 2 in. deficit (five to six applications of 2 in. per season); As rainfall was well distributed, responses to irrigation in the first season have been slight. lour different fertiliser treatments were applied to irrigated and non-irrigated plots. All plots received an initial basal dressing of 10 cwt of lime and 20 lb of borax per acre and receive annually 5 cwt of superphosphate and 2 cwt of muriate of potash. The fertiliser treatments applied over and above this are (1) no additional fertiliser, (2) 5 cwt per acre of superphosphate, (3) 2 cwt of muriate of potash, and (4) 5 cwt of superphosphate plus 2 cwt of muriate of potash. Overall yields have been good, 20 tons of green material being harvested in four cuts between September and the end of February.

Important responses have been obtained from additional potash, but the extra phosphate has had little effect yet. When yield data are available over a number of years, the information should be of value to Waikato farmers wishing to assess the merits of this crop for their particular use.

Wall'aceville

Cage Paralysis

Over the last few years a condition known as cage layer fatigue

or cage paralysis has been seen in birds kept in laying batteries. It is indicated by a leg weakness and occasionally fractures of leg and wing bones. It affects birds after a heavy laying season and seems to be most pronounced during hot weather. Bones are exceedingly brittle as the result of a depletion of the mineral content of the shaft. Egg shell quality is not impaired. Birds will recover within four to seven days of removal from the cages and being return to the floor. This condition has been experienced in the U.S.A, under similar conditions and it was observed there that it affected mainly birds that had been reared on range before going into the cages rather than those which had been raised on wire and had become adjusted to wire floors. Poultry farmers would be well advised to pay attention to the mineral requirements of birds kept under these conditions.

Grasslands Division

Longevity of Seeds

Mention is often made ot the longevity of the hard seeds of legumes such as our pasture clovers or of the seeds of such persistent

weeds as docks. In such plants viability is often retained for 20 years or more, germination occurring when cultivation brings the seeds closer to the surface, where temperature, moisture, oxygen supp and other factors are favourable. The same interest does not appear generally to have been taken in the grasses. _ The widespread distribution of Poa annua plants, for example, suggests that perhaps the seed persists in the soil. Recen work at Grasslands Division on the rate of emergence and the period over which germination takes place, involving 26 species of . grasses, indicates that theie is a wide range in period of dormancy and seedling

emergence. In some, such as barley grass (Hordeum murinum'), emergence reaches its maximum in three to four weeks. In others, such as crab glass (Digitaria sanguinalis'), germination may not occur for some weeks or even months, and percentage o germination varies with the species. ' Fresh crops may appear in successive spring and autumn seasons for several years from the same seed. Those grasses which possess this capacity may, it they are useful pasture species, be of advantage in colonising open spaces in a pasture bared by drought or other cause. On the other hand, if they are o little agricultural value or definitely undesirable, they may perpetuate a weed problem in the same way as goosegrass, hairgrass (Pulpin'), and Poa annua have.

Ruakura

All Year Round Beef Production

Our extensive market for fat lamb meat owes much to the fact that this commodity is available on the British

market every week in the year. In contrast the supply of New Zealand chilled beef is highly seasonal and in consequence is at serious disadvantage when competing with much more regular supplies from the Argentine. Trials are under way at the Ruakura Animal Research Station to investigate the practicability of producing first-class chiller-type beef all the year round. For this purpose three techniques are being exploited: 1. The mating of some herds to calve in autumn instead of in spring. Local farmers are cooperating in the supply of both spring and autumn born weaner steers. ' 2. Maximum use of autumn-saved pasture as is at present widely practised on dairy farms. 3. Self-fed silage for winter feed to be used as a supplement to high-quality autumn-saved pasture. The cattle are being farmed in conjunction with - a normal complement of ewes and lambs.

Wallaceville

Mortality in Lambs after Drenching Gun Injury

A recent mortality in lambs after drenching was shown to be due to infection entering a wound made in the throat by the

nozzle of the drenching gun. The gun used was a single-dose type with a very long nozzle and the injury to the throat is shown in the accompanying illustration (indicated by arrow).

All affected sheep had injuries to the right side of the throat, suggesting that the operator was left handed and this was confirmed. Large abscesses formed on the right side of the throat and some extended down the neck almost to the brisket. As this mortality involved stud ram lambs, it proved very costly to the owner. Improved types of drenching guns which are much safer to use can now be bought, and the oesophageal type is not only safe but has the added advantage of causing less wool staining.

Invermay

Effect of Cover Crops on Pasture Establishment

During the past three years a series of trials has been laid down to investigate the effect of rape and cereal cover crops on the establish-

ment of new pasture. These trials have included a light (% lb) and heavy (2 lb) seeding rate of rape and have been sown on high fertility alluvial sod and on less fertile hill soils. Results have shown that the inclusion of rape is inadvisable under high fertility conditions,-but that a light seeding is unlikely to prove harmful on low fertility soils. Forage cereals such as barley and ryecorn which are grazed off within a few weeks of sowing are unlikely to prove very harmful and are preferable to rape under high fertility conditions. Cereals such as wheat and oats sown during early spring and harvested for grain cannot be recommended, as the undersown pasture may be almost entirely choked out by the more vigorously growing cover crop.