6—Lancaster Farming, Friday, Nov“. 1, 1957
Varietal Identification Key to Success
In Production of Superior Alfalfa
Assurance or varietal purity
and identity in alfalfa seed is es
sential if farmers who plant this
important pasture, hay and soil
building crop are to realize max
imum benefits from impioved var
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SALES AND SERVICE
L H. Brubaker
Lancaster, Pa.
N. G. Myers & Son
Rheems, Pa.
Mann & Grumelli Farm Serv.
QuarryviUe, Pa.
Snavelys Farm Service
New Holland, Pa.
icties developed by plant breed
ers, according to tests earned out
by the Agricultural Research
Service, of the U. S. Department
of Agriculture, and co-operating
State agricultural experiment
stations.
Commenting on results of co
operative trueness-to-vanety tests
Dr. Karl Quisenberry, assistant
administrator of the agricultural
Research Service, explains that
appearance alone is not an indic
ator of genetic purity and identi
fy m sued In fa l- ', he says, even
an expert cannot tell by looking
at alfalfa seed whether they have,
the improved characteristics that
have been built into them by
plant breeders - - such as high
yield and seedling vigor in Narra
gansett, stem-nematode resistance
m Lahontan, wilt resistance* and
high yield in Vernal, Ranger, and
Buffalo, or other good qualities
that are a part of the genetic
make-up of such improved varie
ties as Caliverde and Williams
burg alfalfas
“ That’s why use of certified
seed, which insures varietal ident
ity becomes so important,” Dr.
Qmsenbeey declares. “Based on
cooperative tests earned out in
Indiana and Minnesota during
1955 and 1956 on seed lots of
certified Ranger and non-certi
fied Ranger’ alfalfa, a farmer who
purchases and plants seed of ’non
certified Ranger’ has less than a
50 per cent chance of getting seed
of Ranger performance.”
Plant breeders have developed
many varieties in recent years
that have specific characteristics
of special value to farmers. Rang
er for example, is a variety hav
ing high yield, winter hardiness,
and wilt resistance. Winter-hard
iness in Ranger and similar vari
eties is indicated by late-fall re
growth characterized -by a low
growing “rosette” appearnace as
contrasted with the tall and erect
Nissley Farm Service
Washington Boro, Pa.
L. H. Brubaker
Lititz, Pa.
R. S. Weaver
Stevens, Pa.
growth of nonhardy varieties. In
the Mmnesota-Indiana tests a
standard of 80 to 99 per cent of
the plants with .fall regrowth of a
losettmg type was found to be
indicative of "the Ranger Variety.
Only one of 21 lots of certified
Ranger alfalfa seed tested, failed
to come within this standard of
fall growth type The one lot out
side the satisfactory range had 78
per cent plants of the resetting
type.
On the other hand, 74 of the
163 lots of “non-certified” Rang
er” tested failed to come within
the standard of fall growth type.
Plant breeders and patholo
gists have also devised standard
procedures for measuring wilt re
sistance m alfalfas. No variety
is 100 per cent immune to wilt, al
though Ranger is a wilt resistant
variety. In the Mmnesota-Indiana
tests cited by Dr. Quisenberry,' a
plant population with 33 per cent
or less of the plants severely in
fected or dead from wilt was the
standard for this character in
Ranger alfalfa.
Only one of the certified seed
lots that passed the test for fall
growth type failed to meet the re
quired standard for wilt resist
ance, with 40 per cent dead and
infected plants. Among the lots
of “non-certified Ranger, “how
ever, 16 of the 89 lots that pre
viously had met the test for fall
growth type had more than 33 per
cent dead or infected plants after
being inoculated with wilt.
Thus considering both fall
growth type and wilt resistance
only 10 per cent of the certified
seed lots of Ranger failed to meet
the required standards, while 55
per cent of the “non-certified
Ranger” seed lots failed to meet
the standards for both these char
acteristics.
“Unless improved varieties,
such as Ranger, are produced,
harvested, and processed under
properly controlled conditions,”
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Dr. Quisenberry explains, “their
superior qualities, such as high
>ield and winter hardiness, may
be lost in the planting seed that
becomes available to farmers for
forage seedings. Special care is
needed because varieties change
unless precautions are taken.
Seed certification is the best sys
tem so far devised to maintain the
identity and superior perform
ance that is-put into the genetic
make-up of the variety by*the
plant breeder.”
Information supporting the
Mmnesota-Indiana findings also
comes from a series of trueness
lo-variety tests conducted by the
New York Agricultural Experi
ment Station over a six year per
iod that included several hundred
lots of certified and non certified
seed. In these tests an extreme
amount of type variation was not
ed in lots labeled Grimm alfalfa.
By comparison striking uniform
ity was noted in certified Ranger
alfalfa setd lots while some “non
certified Ranger” seed lots pro
duced intermediate-type plants in
respect to fall growth type.
These trials further show that
unless the seed, stocks for repro
ducing such winter hardy alfalfa,
varities as 'Ranger are properly
maintained, either by seed certi
fication or by other effective
means, they may eventually be
come as variable and undepen
able in performance as the old
winter-hardy varieties such as
Grimm.
“The lesson in these tests is
clear,” Dr. Quisenberry conclud
es. “Any farmer who is planting
Ranger alfalfa or any of the im
proved varities of grasses and leg
umes should make sure that the
seed he buys has been grown,
processed, and marketed under
procedures that, will insure its
varietal purity and identity. The
best system - as the trueness to
vanety tests show - - is seed cert
ification.”
WALTER & JACKSON, INC.
Christiana, Pa.
ANIMAL MORBIDITY REPORT
FOR FISCAL YEAR 1957
The Special Disease Eradication
Section of the Agricultural Re
search Service recently released
its Animal Morbidity Report for
Fiscal Year 1957 which shows how
many herds of flocks were report
ed to have been infected with
various diseases that year.
It shows that 124,115 herds of
cattle, 42 herds of goats, and 1,-
337 herds of swine showed posi
tive reaction to brucellosis; 6,161
herds of cattle, 24 herds of swine,
and 21 flocks of poultry showed
positive reaction to tuberculosis;
anthrax infection was found in
149 herds of cattle and nine herds
of swine; hog cholera was report
ed m 3,977 herds, vascular exan
thema m only three equine encep
halomyelitis in 1,460, scrapie in
12, and blue-tongue in 215.
A total of 4,666 cases of rabies
were reported, 1,929 of them in
dogs, 281 in cats, 652 in cattle, ,22
in equines, 17 in sheep and goats,
20 in swine, and 1,745 in wildlife.
Six years of leadership as the Highest
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JOHN H. BONHOLTZER
R. D. 4, Lancaster, Pa.
SNADER’S MILL
R. D. 1, Stevens, Pa.
I. B. GRAYBILL & SON
Refton, Pi.
■I