UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



December 4, 1916 



IMPROVEMENT OF GHIRKA SPRING WHEAT IN 

 YIELD AND QUALITY. 



By J. Allen Clark, 

 Scientific Assistant in Western Wheat Investigations, Office of Cereal Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



History and description of Ghirka Spring 



wheat 2 



Experiments 3 



Comparative yields 3 



E xperiments— Continued . 



Summary of yields 8 



MUling and baking quality 9 



Improvement by selection 12 



Conclusions 18 



INTRODUCTION. 



A demand for hardier and more drought-resistant wheats, was 

 created with the progress of settlement of the drier portions of the 

 Great Plains area. In response to this demand, the United States 

 Department of Agriculture began about 1898 to improve the wheat 

 crop of that area by the introduction from eastern and southern Russia 

 of varieties which were thought to possess hardiness and drought 

 resistance. To determine the value of these varieties they were 

 tested at agricultural experiment stations in different localities in the 

 Groat Plains area. The principal economic result of this work was the 

 introduction of Kharkof winter wh(»at and Kubanka durum wheat. ^ 



Some of the other varieties obtained were found of value for dry- 

 land areas. Among thom was the Ghirka Spring wheat, which was 

 bf)th productive and drought resist anl, but comparatively low in 

 milling value. Its improvement in yield and quality is the subject 

 of the present paper. 



• Carlcton, M. A. Hiird wheats whinliij; thoir way. In I'. H. T)cpt. Agr. 'i'mrl.ook, lOIl, p. ;«)l-.|20, 

 fiK. 22-2.'i, pi. 35-11. 191.0. 

 OfJMS"— 16 1 



