A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 1,1985
UNIVERSITY PARK - “Our
research plots are looking good
and we expect they will be in top
shape for our Crops Day ac
tivities,” John Yocum, superin
tendent of Penn State’s
Southeastern Field Research
laboratory at landisville, said
today.
“Rainfall to date has been less
than normal,” he said, “but we’ve
had a couple of nice rams at just
the right time.”
Penn State’s Crops Day at
in Lancaster County is
an annual activity conducted for
farmers and others who wish to
visit the laboratory, see what’s
going on, and talk with the
scientists doing the work.
The June 18 program will run
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the
laboratory on Auction Road, two
miles northwest of Landisville.
Yocum pointed out that forages
and small grains research is to be
featured in this year’s program,
but work with other crops, such as
vegetables and flowers, is also
under way.
Visitors will be welcome to look
about and ask questions. “We’re
very interested in questions,” he
said.
The experiments with small
grains include variety develop
ment, disease control and
management strategies for in
creased profitability, Yocum
explained. Use of growth
regulators to reduce yield losses in
wheat is the object of two projects
by Elwood Hatley, Penn State
Extension agronomist.
In one project, a variety
comparison trial, Hatley has
sprayed six varieties with once
only applications of a growth
regulator designed to reduce
lodging. This approach will permit
ranking the varieties by per
centage of lodged plants and gram
produced per plot.
Another of Hatley’s wheat ex
periments compares response of
two varieties to one-time ap
plications of growth regulator on
plants at different stages. Two
rates of application were used.
As the plots ripen, Hatley will be
able to compare the influence' of
Experiments on schedule for Landisville Crops Day
vanetj rate ol application, and
growth eft<>i tiveness ot the
chemical.
As with other experiments, the
results of this work will be for
mulated into the standard
management recommendations ot
the College of Agriculture, and
added to the Experiment Station’s
databank of agronomic research.
Crops Day visitors will tour the
breeding plots for spring oats,
where USDA-ARS scientist Harold
Marshall and his associate, USDA
ARS plant geneticist Fred Kolb,
are working to develop a dwarf or
semi-dwarf oat that will resist
lodging.
Root lodging and stem lodging
are most likely to occur in the
taller plants, and a short-stemmed
variety would have appeal.
On the other hand, many far
mers consider oat straw to be the
ideal material for livestock bed
ding, and oat varieties with shorter
stems will mean less straw at
harvest time.
Some oat varieties are easier to
grow than others and any new
variety needs to be looked at from
this point of view. Farmers need to
know the level ol management
required to produce a good crop
when they are selecting varieties
for their particular cropping
system, Yocum explained.
Methods of managing small
grains when disease organisms
reach threshold levels receive
major study at the laboratory,
Yocum said. James Frank, USDA
ARS scientist and adjunct
associate professor of plant
HARRISBURG - The Executive
Board of the Pennsylvania Far
mers Union announced its support
of Dr. Richard Grubb’s nomination
for Secretary of Agriculture at a
meeting this week.
State Executive Director
Chester L. Reed stated during the
meeting, “We’ve met with Dr.
Grubb and we are convinced that
he would do an excellent job for
Pennsylvania agriculture.”
“We are very pleased to have a
nominee who was raised on a
NEW from
CHORE-TIME
20” deep SSS curtain back
cage layer system
Get The Only New Technology Available For Cage Systems
2 °” deCP4 '*u gh P uts 33% wear and Galv-A-Weld (welded black then galvanized)
more birds into the same row lengths as old style 3-high cage construction for long, trouble-free life... a choice
wdh .° a * drop .P“? g a^ ds and withoat a need of feeding systems to help you take control of feed
(ST, gr n eater buddl " g wldth> , That means at 6 blrds per costs: Meal Master Feedkar (traveling feed hopper)
JLSuse ovL l s M 3 nmhfrH<: inCheS) 352 * 536 ’ bulld,ng MT - (rotating Flex Auger), and NEW Ultraflex (80 ft.’
can nouse over 108,000 birds. per minute circulating Flex Auger).
But, just as important, with this Chore-Time system And, with Chore-Time feeding systems you can take
d °"* have l ? sacrifl c e the features and full advantage of the new prcriuction-boosting, feed
benefits you ve come to expect from Chore-Time: saving MEAL-TIME 0 " feeding method develoned bv
fil^f : b, “’ 0 “ r l| lBalga^yFTTOUCH - Chor^Ttol LB S
II egg collection, a gentle cage floor slope to prevent minimize waste and provide each bird with fresh Un
checks and cracks... rugged A-frame cage support and Picked-Over feed,
legs every 4 feet to protect against cage sag and trough
ftNortogd
PFU supports Grubb nomination
NORTHEAST AGRI SYSTEMS, INC.
P.O. Box 187
Fitchville, CT 06334
Phone; (203)642-7529
pathology at Penn State, win
fii.srus.sth v
Fiank and his colleagut s,
research assistant James
Spadafora and PSU plant
pathologist Herb Cole, are com
paring yield loss in Septona
infected wheat plants on untreated
plots and plots treated with
fungicide. The objective is to
develop forecasting and disease
management systems that will
enable a farmer to spray with
family farm," added PFU
President M. James Brown. “Dr.
Grubb already has a first-hand
appreciation of the special needs of
Pennsylvania’s farmers.”
Commenting on Dr. Grubb’s
Penn State background, Brown
said, “His combination of farming,
economic and administrative
experience qualify him for the
tremendous challenge of guiding
the state’s leading industry.”
Vice-President Barbara E.
Woods said she felt the Governor
Local Representative
DAVID NEWMAN
(717)299-9905
fungicides and reduce losses from
glume blotch.
Other Penn State scientists
preparing Crops Day presen
tations include Marvin L. Resius,
working on breeding winter wheat
and winter barley varieties, and
I>es E. Lanyon and Greg Roth,
working on soil fertility.
Experiments dealing with
production and management of
forage crops are also scheduled for
presentation, Yocum said.
had made a good choice. “Dr.
Grubb seems to agree with Far
mers Union’s policy which
recognizes the role of supply
management in an overall
program to raise prices paid to
farmers,” she said.