| Show government develops better grass strains grass breeding is catching up with research on other economically important im p octant plant crops reports M A hein pasture specialist of the federal bureau of plant industry grass long has been recognized as the cheapest of live stock feeds but until recently little attention was given to better grass strains ahr through 0 ugh breeding department forage specialists operating cooperating co with various state experiment peri ment stations have shown that grasses can be improved by breeding as much as field crops recent studies for instance show that length of day light intensities air and soil temperatures all play an important part in grass growth how to induce and increase the production of grass seed particularly in the southeast and the great plains where many of the more desirable and most promising grasses fail to produce any quantity of viable seed is another problem that the scientists want to know more about why some grasses are more palatable and higher in nutritive value than others also is being studied to carry out grass studies as rapidly as possible the country countr has been divided into regions where there is a similarity in the problems and consequently in the methods of attack adaptation studies of large numbers of domestic and foreign grass species are made at nurseries in the various regions in this preliminary work studies are made of the palatability and the reaction of f the introduced grasses to grazing As far as possible those that fail fai to show promise in this initial phase of the breeding program are eliminated |
