456 TwENTv-EiGiiTii Annual Report 



WHEAT 



The wheat work during the past year was confined to the 

 economic phase of testing and selecting ])romising strains of the 

 third and fourth generations of the wheat hybrids made in the 

 summer of 1913, to genetic studies in wheat and to the compilation 

 of data already secured. Two scientific articles originating from 

 this data (G. F. Freeman, Linked Quantitative Characters in Wheat 

 Crosses. Amer. Nat. Vol. LI. Nov., 1917, and George F. Freeman, 

 A mechanical expiation of progressive changes in the proportion 

 of hard and soft wheat kernels. Journ. Amer. Soc. Agron. Vol. 10, 

 No. 1 ) have been published. Others are in course of preparation. 



In the wheat breeding work 500 plots of hybrid wheats were 

 grown at the Yuma station. These formed the basis of further 

 selections for planting in the fall of 1917, at which time 600 head 

 rows, 100 pedigree increase plots and 25 one-tenth-acre plots were 

 l>lanted at the Yuma station. At the Mesa farm 10 one-fourth-acre 

 and three one-half-acre plots were jilanted, for testing on a still 

 larger scale, a number of promising pedigree races which had been 

 previously grown in quantity sufticient for making milling and 

 baking tests. These milling and baking tests were made by the 

 milling department of the Kansas State Agricultural College and, 

 include the determination of the following characters of the wheat : 

 Weight per bushel ; percentage of flour, moisture, ash, aciditv, pro- 

 tein and phosphorus ; and of the Hour, the moisture, ash, acidity,, 

 protein, wet gluten, dry gluten, phosphorus ; and of the bread the 

 following: Water, absorption, time of fermentation, maximum 

 volume of dough, oven rise, weight and volume of loaf and color 

 and texture of crumb. 



The results obtained during the past three years from a com- 

 parative study of Arizona wheats, indicate that grain of excellent 

 milling and baking quality can be raised on irrigated land in this 

 state and that there are striking differences in the bread-making 

 (|ualities of different varieties when grown under identical con- 

 ditions. 



Plate I is introduced as an example of these facts. The k)af in 

 the center was baked from a blend of hard wheat flours grown in 

 Kansas. Such blended flours make a larger, lighter loaf than could 

 be obtained from the flour of any one wheat alone. The loaf at the 

 elft was from Arizona grown Early Baart wheat produced on the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station at Yuma in 1915. It will be noted 



