228 UEPOKT t)F OFFICE OF EXl'EUIMKNT STATIONS. 



eroiu'o is iiuulo are in some iiislances duplicati'd in the work of similar 

 nature and importance at other stations not mentioned. 



IMPROVEMENT IN YIELD AND QUALITY OF CEREALS. 



The cereals are by far the most important of the vegetable foods in 

 the diet of the American jjcople. In several hundred dietary studies 

 made in connection with the cooperative nutrition investigations, 

 cereal foods of all kinds comprised, on the average, '20 to 25 per cent 

 of the total food consumed, and sui)plied about 30 j)er cent of the total 

 protein of the diet. Investigations having for their object the im- 

 provement of the yield and <|uality of the cereal crops, such as are 

 conducted by a number of experiment stations, are therefore of inesti- 

 mable value. 



These investigations cover all lines of agricultural practice, includ- 

 ing studies of the effects of soil, tilhige, fertilization, moisture, etc., 

 of methods of combating plant diseases and insect pests, and other 

 lines, but perhaps the most significant of all are the efforts toward 

 improvement by breeding and selection that have been undertaken 

 within recent years. The results obtained with wheat in the work of 

 this nature that has been carried on for several years at the Minnesota 

 Station" afford an excellent illustration of the benefits that accrue 

 from such investigations. Especial attention has there been devoted 

 to the scientific origination of new^ varieties by breeding and selection, 

 with the special purpose to secure varieties that would produce the 

 largest yields and also have superior milling and bread-making 

 qualities and highest nutritive values. As a result of efforts in this 

 direction, some varieties of wheat of very superior qualities have been 

 produced and distributed, which, if widely grown, would materially 

 improve the yield and quality of wdieat. According to fair estimates 

 an increase of a fifth in the average production of wheat is not at all 

 unlikely. 



Of especial interest in the present discussion are the efforts of 

 different stations to improve the quality of cereals as regards their 

 protein content. This most important food ingredient is also the 

 most expensive in the diet, and one problem in the nutrition of man 

 is to reduce the cost of this nutrient. Any attempt to increase the 

 quantity of protein in food materials used in such quantities as the 

 cereals is therefore a step in this direction, since the more that protein 

 can be supplied in the cereal foods the less will be the need of obtain- 

 ing it from more expensive materials. 



Very encouraging success has attended the efforts in this direction. 



o Minnesota Sta. Bui. 62. 



