70 ENVIRONMENT AND MILLING QUALITIES. 



B. The influence of environment on strength. 



It will be seen in the extensive trials of the weak wheat from 

 the Muzaffarnagar District that in no case did this variety become 

 strong. All that occurred was that at stations like Cawnpore and 

 Pusa, where particular attention has been paid to growing the 

 wheat crop to perfection, the sample improved both in appearance 

 and also in the milling and baking processes. The wheat, however, 

 still behaved as a weak wheat and exhibited all the characteristics 

 of its class. 



The behaviour of wheats, characterised by strength of flour and 

 good milling qualities, when grown under similar conditions to 

 Muzaffarnagar, must now be considered. For the purpose of 

 ascertaining how far strength and other desirable grain qualities 

 are maintained, four types of strong wheat (Pusa 4, 8, 12 & 22) 

 were selected. In addition, a sample of Muzaffarnagar was also 

 grown at each centre, so that the strong types could be compared 

 with a typical Indian wheat. The strong wheats selected were 

 not of the same class. Pusa 4 is a large grained, amber wheat with 

 strong straw, which comes to maturity with great rapidity. It is 

 likely to prove of use in those tracts of India where the crop has 

 to be grown on the minimum amount of water. It is also being 

 tried in Bihar as a cover crop for Java indigo, the two crops being 

 sown together as in the case of clover and barley in Europe. Pusa 

 8 is also an early white wheat with good straw, but the sample is 

 mellow rather than translucent. Pusa 12 is a high yielding, white 

 wheat with a large almost translucent grain, but this line ripens much 

 later than the above and also tillers more. Pusa 22 is a distinctly 

 hard translucent amber coloured wheat of Fife shape, but the straw 

 is not strong enough to support a really heavy crop. Thus of the 

 four strong wheats two, Nos. 4 and 22, are translucent with a dark 

 amber tint, while No. 8 is distinctly mellow. No. 12 is intermediate 

 between No. 8 and the two translucent lines. 



The stations at which these wheats were grown were the same 

 as in 1910 except that Raipur was substituted for Hoshangabad. 



