The Possibility of Utilizing Selfed Strains in Practical Corn Improvement

Many people who are either actively or indirectly engaged in corn breeking are acquainted with the fact that so called hybrid vigor is brought about through crossing of strains of corn that have first been reduced by several generations of inbreeding or selfing. Hybrid vigor has long been recognized and it is not the purpose of the present paper to discuss the fundamentals further than to call attention to it as a basis, for corn improvement

Yields From Two Systems of Corn Breeding

Beginning with 1911, and continuing throughout the even cropping seasons following, South Dakota Experiment Station, Agronomy Department has conducted two systems If corn breeding by ear-to-row selection. During the seasons wherein these breeding-plots have been conducted, the actual carrying out of field work and of seed selection has been participated in by all members of Agronomy Department Crops Division. These systems of corn breeding were installed partly with the idea that they might produce comparative results in the form of ear-row-yields which would be helpful in defining a practical corn breeding system, which could be recommended to farmers as superior to other systems. One of the corn breeding-plots here reviewed is patterned after the plan devised by Hopkins and described in Illinois Experiment Station Bulletin No. 100. Through the seasons of 1912 and 1918 inclusive, this ear-to-row heeding plot has been conducted at South Dakota Experiment Station1Brookings field. According to this system, it should be remembered that in whatever year of the breeding plot, the separate rows are planted with seed from separate mother ears. Also this system calls for detasseling all stalks of the even-numbered rows in all quarters of the breeding plot every year, and seed ears for succeeding years are always selected from the six highest-yielding, even-numbered rows of each of the four quarters of the plot. This latter rule has been adhered to in connection with the breeding plot under discussion except in cases where rows yielding the highest weight of ear corn were found to be very inferior in other respects

Crop Yields over Nineteen Years from Highmore Experiment Farm

The present report may be said to constitute a history of yields of staple crops from Highmore Experiment Farm secured within the period 1912 to 1930 inclusive. These yields have been secured under the climatic variations that occurred within that period; from definite crop sequences or rotations. Results of this nature are the only reliable basis for land utilization. In a number of instances the odds indicate that increases or decreases in yield are the resultant effect of the rotation in which the given crop occurs. Crop producers inquire in effect whether the facts established about crop sequences and rotations can be formulated into rules which tell what crops to grow. Attempts to state such rules must be a matter of logical deduction, and not absolute proof. Such deductions are nevertheless the result of research and possess value both for what they say and what they refrain from attempting to conclude

Corn Families of South Dakota

Summary1. It is submitted as an expedient of corn breeding, that the mother-ears selected for starting a breeding plot should not only be as numerous as practicable but should also represent as many sources as practicable from among those likely to excel in qualities desired. Page 121. For the same reason mother-ears should be systematically introduced into the detasseled rows of the breeding plot in succeeding seasons from stocks of other corn breeders and other sources where excellent strains are likely to be found. Page 121.2. It is submitted as another expedient of corn breeding that high yielding tested remnants should be utilized as largely a· s possible in making and carrying out plans for corn-breeding by selection. Page 122.3. Detasseling all the even-numbered rows in the breeding plot insures that the progeny of these rows will be cross-bred. Page 124. 4. All of the twelve odd-numbered (sire) rows in any given quarter of the breeding plot can be planted from one single ear, providing the rows in the: breeding plot are short-(ten hills). This sire ear may be selected from the highest yielding row of another quarter, according to plan. Page 122 to 124. 5. The foregoing expedients may be employed in securing the production of seed corn, which is the product of crossing strains that are selected for high yield ( or any quality ) that are selected continuously and whose sires and dams may have, approached a homozygous condition.6. It is practically possible to record the ancestry of ears of corn from such a breeding plot to preserve a working pedigree record of such ancestry. Page 124.7. The variety of corn named All Dakota produced according to the foregoing expedients, should ultimately represent a combination of high-yield characters now existent in varieties that are successful in eastern South Dakota; such as Golden Glow, Minnesota,13, Fulton Yellow Dent and Wimple,\u27s. At the time of writing the surplus (15 acres) from the 1918 breeding plot is growing on the farm of Percy Ullman, in Brookings County

Trails with Sweet Clover as a Field Crop in South Dakota

Throughout the state of South Dakota, farmers are interested in learning about the possibilities of sweet clover. The South Dakota Experiment Station has made trial of this plant in certain cropping systems with a view to having some information available. The present bulletin is offered not at all as a complete treatis1e. It is believed that a brief account of progress with the plant as a crop will be of more immediate value than if its publication be longer delayed

Trials with Millets and Sorghums for Grain and Hay in South Dakota

Summary of Bulletin 1351. The highest average yield of grain secured at Highmore from any variety of millet, in years 1907-1910, was 17.6 bushels per acre, from common millet. Page 315. 2. The next highest average yield was 16.0 bushels per acre from Black Voronezh, this being also practically the yield from Kursk, and Tambov varieties. Page 315. 3. Kursk varieties of millet in 1910, produced a higher yield of hay, and are, all considered, most promising, the average of the highest yields of Kursk for all seasons being 24.7 bushels of grain per acre. Page 317.4. The facts apparently warrant the increased use of Kursk millet, as a grain crop in South Dakota. Page 318.5. It requires a longer time for grain sorghums to grow to maturity than for millet. Page 326.6. The average yield of grain per acre for three strains of Kowliang (grain sorghum) for three years, including two extremely unfavorable seasons, was 13.7 bushels per acre. This illustrates their extremely drought resistant quality. Page 327

Some Varieties and Strains of Wheat, and their Yields in South Dakota

If anyone knows the characteristics of any kind of wheat that may be grown, he is usually interested in its yielding power. Conversely if anyone finds out that any kind of wheat is a good yielder, he wishes to know its name and characteristics. It is the purpose of the present bulletin to classify and describe some of the wheats most commonly grown and inquired about in South Dakota. Having thus define these varieties and strains of wheat, it is the purpose to summarize them according to their average yields. These latter have been determined by tests made at the several experiment-fields within the state

The Germination of Seed Corn and its Relation to the Occurrence of Molds During Germination

Importance of vigorous germination in corn intended for seed has been emphasized for many years. More recently, within the present decade, not only vigor of germination has been emphasized but likewise the adverse effect of molds upon germinability has been freely asserted. One of the objects in beginning the present study was to get some information upon the question of whether the corn crop in such a new part of the corn belt as South Dakota was indeed affected by ear rots and root rots and similar organisms. A preliminary survey of a number of seed houses where seed corn was stored as early as the winter of 1923-1924 emphasized the fact that corn ear rots are a condition as well as a theory in South Dakota, even though they may be less prevalent than in older sections of the corn belt