REPORT ON GRAIN EXPERIMENTS 1945 -1949
PRODUCTION OF TOTAL DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS PER ACRE OF CEREAL CROPS -s
and CULTURAL SUGGESTIONS FOR INCREASED GRAIN YIELDS.
In order to answer the frequently asked question about the comparative
production of different cereal crop varieties at the Matanuska.Station
at Palmer,a brief summary was prepared of the important varieties which
have been included in yield trials since 1945. -‘hile these varieties
were not all grown in the same experiment they have been handled simi
larly and for comparative purposes the yields reported are the best a
vailable from the station.
In the accompanying table are given the number of pounds of total diges
tible nutrients or feed units produced per acre by eight different
cereal crop varieties grown at the Matanuska Station over a 5-year per
iod, 1945-1949.
CEO? VARIETY
Pounds £f_digestiMo_ nutrients produced
1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Averag
Chogot Jr
per aero
q fo of C
or yr_s gro'.
Chogot wheat
Clli barley
Trapmar barley
Edda barley
Climax oats
Victory oats
Gopher oats
Swedish Select oats
Siberian 3 oats
2258 767 839
2082 1307 608
1393 1312 876
1862 1273
2500 1925 1000
1915 1573 730
2105 . 1638 846
1520 1017
1423 996
1745 1563 1434
1934 1488 1524
1922 1038 1308
2365 1613 1778
1721 1301 1689
1989 1356 1513
1449 1148 1437
1701 1379 • 1404
1821 1379 1405
100
106
91
145
118
106
100
114
114
As can be noted, Trapmar barley was the least efficient in its ability
to produce feed units per acre, having averaged only 1308 pounds. Olli
barley yielded 15 per cent more than Trapmar or 1524 pounds and Chogot
wheat yielded 1434 pounds p^r acre.
Cf the oat varieties now being grown, none produced more than Climax.
This late-maturing variety averaged 1689 pounds per acre, or 18 per cent
more T.D.N. than Chogot wheat. Swedish Select and Victory, two varie
ties of similar maturity to Climax, were slightly inferior. Gosh or, dine
of the earliest maturing varieties in the test, yielded less than the
other oats by 14 to 18 per cent.
Of the varieties still in experimental trials,Edda barley and Siberian
3 oats appear very promising. Edda barley for the four years grown
averaged 1778 pounds of T.D.E. per acre. This is nearly 50 per cent
more T.D.r. per acre than wheat. This new 6-rowed, bearded, hulled
variety is early maturing, stiff-strawed, and of good seed quality.
Siberian 3 oats, like Edda, is more desirable agronomically than the
now available varieties, such as Climax, Victory, and Swedish Select,
being earlier in maturity and stiffer-strawed. It’s grain yields aver
aged only about 4 per cent less than Climax for comparable years.
Until seed of improved experimental varieties can be made available for
commercial use, it will b^ necessary for the Alaska farmers to select
a variety from those now available. This is rather unfortunate, sinde
most all currently available varieties have one or more serious limita
tions for optimum returns per acre, the major objection being late ma
turity. V/hen all factors are considered such as yield, sureness of crop,
ease in harvest and quality of the harvested crop it would appear that
the following rocommsnflj'-tions are in order for this coming season. The
varieties and- crops arc listed according to their preference.
Cont. on page 6
I'rs. '/ratts-uBridget, these balus
ters seem always dusty. I was at
Irs. Johnson's today and her stair
rails are clean and as smooth as
glass."
Bridget--"Yis,mum. She has three
small boys."_
Mr. Gayboy—"Bow, Biddie, why did
you tell your mistress what time I
came home last night,when I asked
you not to?"
Bridget—*1 didn’t at all,sir. She
i ashed me what time you got in, and