THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON 



THE MILLING AND BAKING QUALITIES 



OF WHEAT IN INDIA. 



No. 2. THE EXPERIMENTS OF 1909-10 AND 1910-11. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



The question of the influence of environment on the quality 

 of wheat is of the greatest importance to those concerned with the 

 improvement of this crop. It affects not only the question of seed 

 distribution and the introduction of new varieties, but is also of vital 

 interest to the breeder. It has long been a vexed question as to 

 what extent quality in plant products is determined by environ- 

 ment and how far it must be considered as characteristic of the breed. 

 To the plant-breeder, who wishes to combine in one race the largest 

 number of valuable qualities, a knowledge of the respective parts 

 played by breed and by environment in producing such qualities 

 becomes essential. Further, in the general aspect of seed distri- 

 bution in India it is essential to know in what tracts high milling 

 and baking qualities are possible. For instance, at the present time, 

 the black cotton soils of the Peninsula and the canal irrigated tracts 

 of Northern India produce mainly soft weak wheats often with poor 

 milling qualities. One of the objects of this investigation is to 

 determine whether or not wheats of better quality can be grown in 

 these important areas. 



The experimental investigation of this subject in India was 

 commenced in 1907 and the results obtained up to the harvest of 

 1909 have already been described. 1 Subsequently, the experiments 



1 Howard, Leake & Howard, Memoir* of the Dipt, of Ayr. in India (Rotanioal Series), Vol. 

 Ill, No. 4, 1910. p. 191. 



1 



