OCR Text |
Show Cache Loses Wheat to Smut Disease Unusually heavy infestation of wheat smut this year is claiming from 15 to 50 per cent of Cache county's winter 'wheat crop which escaped the effects of the past severe whiter, R. L. Wrigley, county coun-ty agricultural agent, reported on Wednesday. As grain harvesting continues on dry farms throughout the county, indications are that the yields will be light as compared with last year, he said. He urged wheat growers to buy the smut-resistant wheat seed, 54 a-41, developed several years ago at Utah Agricultural experiment station by D. C. Tingey, research assistant professor of agronomy. "In practically all farms where this wheat is grown, particularly in the Newton area, there is practically prac-tically no smut," he said. "Yet, j hundreds of farmers in the county continue to grow Turkey and Kanred wheat, both of which are susceptible to smut, and thereby sustain heavy losses each year." He urged farmers to buy the smut resistant seed while it is being be-ing harvested and before it is stored where it is unavailable for seed. While 54 a-41 wheat is the best smut resistant variety now in use in Utah, (Professor Tingey has developed de-veloped a new strain, 122-A, which is expected to prove even less susceptible sus-ceptible wheat it is released. |