.Seed Wheat. 19 



Relative Foddet Value of Large and Small Grains of Wheat. 



The relative fodder-value of large and small grains of wheat has been a subject of 

 attention on my part for some years. The amount of decisive evidence one way or the 

 other has, however, been unsatisfactory. From such evidence as was known to me, 

 and from reasoning based on this evidence and by reasoning from analogy, I had come to 

 regard small grains as, weight for weight, of somewhat less feeding value than large 

 grains. The following notes on the subject are of a more definite character than anything 

 I have hitherto been able to formulate from my own observations. They serve to render 

 it probable that the difference is not a large one. 



If these conclusions are correct, it is well to keep in mind that they justify to some 

 extent the breeding of wheat- varieties for prolificness regardless of the size of their 

 grains. 



Similarly it is well to consider in cleaning and grading wheat for seed that what is 

 removed in the shape of small but otherwise sound grain has a feeding- value about equal 

 to that of large plump grain. 



It is well known that some of the most prolific varieties of wheat have spikelets carry- 

 ing four to five grains, of which the upper ones are quite small. If these small grains 

 had, weight for weight, a smaller food -value than the others, it would become a question 

 how far it is advisable to encourage the prolificness of the plant along these lines. If, 

 on the contrary, the fodder-value of these smaller grains is greater than that of the large 

 grains, or equal to it, then there need be little fear in encouraging the production of such 

 small grains. 



As a concrete illustration of the principle under discussion, we may take a wheat of 

 the Defiance type. The illustration on page 5 is of such a wheat. The grains are shown 

 as having been removed from one side of the ear, and they are arranged in the order in 

 which they were taken from the various spikelets. It will be seen how much smaller 

 are the upper grains of the more prolific spikelets than the lower ones. 



In order to ascertain the relative value of the two sorts of grain, comparisons were 

 instituted between the large and small grains of the same ears and of the same spikelets. 

 It did not seem worth while to compare the small grains of one ear or plant with the 

 large ones of another ear or plant. 



Hence, in order to secure material for a just comparison, a large grain and a small 

 grain were taken from each of seven different spikelets. This gave charges of unequal 

 weight, the seven small grains weighing much less than the seven large grains. The 

 disparity was made up by taking three more small grains from the same spikelets. It 

 was not considered best to collect from other spikelets. In a word, the comparison was 

 made between the large and small grains of the same spikelets derived from near the 

 middle of a single ear. This method seemed to throw out, as far as possible, any factors 

 that would nullify the value of such a comparison. 



The selected grains were in all cases plump, and of the best quality of their respective 

 sizes, as the accompanying photographs will witness. The illustrations show the two 

 samples examined, the photographs being taken natural-size just before weighing. (See 

 Figs. 23 and 24 on the next page. ) 



RELATIVE value of the large and small grains of a Defiance Wheat. 



Large grains. Small grains. 



*Bran and embryo (dry) 12'7 per cent. 1 2 "0 per cent. 



Bran, dry 10'4 9'8 



Embryo (by difference) 2'3 2"2 



These figures represent weights after a rigid microscopic cleansing from all traces of 

 starch and gluten and other possible contents of the flour cells. This leaves the starch, 

 gluten, water, and water-solubles at 88 per cent, for the small grains, and 87 '3 per cent, 

 for the large grains, a slight difference in favour of the small grains, providing the 

 amount of water is proportional in the two cases, and also providing the relative 

 proportions of starch and gluten are the same, and are equally digestible and nutritious. 

 These qualifications are too numerous to be altogether satisfactory. It may, however, 

 be said with some certainty that the amount of flour present in the two cases is, for equal 



* The term bran is here used to include all layers down to and including the aletiron layer. 



