ANNUAL REPORT, 1942 13 



In an effort to eliminate some of the bad features of orchard grass, breeders 

 have developed a number of new and improved strains. Several of these were 

 included in the test and it is from some of these strains that promising results 

 have been obtained. The outstanding one thus far is S37, a strain developed by 

 the Welsh Plant Breeding Station in Aberystwyth, Wales. Three strains from 

 this source were tested — S26, S37, and S143 — but S37 gave the best all-round 

 performance. It is leafy, late-maturing, moderatel}' vigorous and upright in its 

 growth habit, and a reasonably good seed producer. It looked well in combina- 

 tion with both Ladino clover and alfalfa and appeared to be adapted for use as 

 pasture or hay and pasture combined. A satisfactory proportion of legumes to 

 grasses has been maintained for two years in plots seeded with five pounds of 

 S37 orchard grass, two pounds of Ladino clover, and ten pounds of alfalfa. 



Svalof's early meadow fescue, a short, narrow-leafed type, grew well the first 

 season with Ladino clover, but was unable to maintain a stand throughout the 

 second season. Commercial strains were eliminated the first season. The Svalof 

 strain has been of interest, because it is apparently immune to leaf rust, a factor 

 which may explain why it is more persistent than commercial strains. Although 

 meadow fescue is apparently unsatisfactory when grown alone with Ladino clover, 

 there are indications that five to eight pounds might be seeded along with four to 

 five pounds of a leafy strain of orchard grass or eight to ten pounds of smooth 

 brome grass, with excellent results. Meadow fescue is a fast-growing grass which 

 establishes itself quicklj- and would retard weed growth and yield considerable 

 feed while the slow-growing brome grass or orchard grass was becoming estab- 

 lished. 



Strains of the so-called tall meadow fescue, such as Alta tall fescue, have not 

 performed satisfactorily. They are coarse and unpalatable in comparison with 

 several of the other grasses and offer too much competition for Ladino clover. 



DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 

 Victor A. Rice in Charge 



A Study of the Mineral Elements of Cow's Milk. (J. G. Archibald, C. H. Par- 

 sons, and H. G. Lindquist.) For two reasons the work with manganese reported 

 last year was repeated during the winter of 1941-42: (1) the findings were at 

 variance with some earlier work at another station, so it was thought advisable 

 to confirm them; (2) it was desired to investigate the possible effect of metabolized 

 manganese on the development of oxidized flavor in milk. 



The results of this second season's work confirmed the finding reported last 

 year that the amount of manganese in milk can be doubled by adding manganese 

 to the ration fed. This additional metabolized manganese did not retard or in- 

 hibit the development of oxidized flavor either in ordinary milk or in milk to 

 which copper had been purposely added to accentuate the effect. 



The element zinc is being studied this \ear. 



Investigation of the Merits of Legume and Grass Silage for Massachusetts 

 Agriculture. (J. G. Archibald and C. H. Parsons.) War econom\ has resulted in 

 a definite shortage and a corresponding increase in price of the two most common 

 preservatives for grass silage, molasses and phosphoric acid. Our efforts this 

 year have, therefore, been devoted to a study of other materials which might 

 possibly be used as preservatives, and to an improvement of methods in general 

 so that smaller amounts of preservative or none at all, may suffice. 



It was not possible to conduct any feeding trials with the molasses silage stored 

 in the large experimental silo in June 1941. The excellent quality of this silage 



