BREEDING MILLET AND SORGO FOR DROUGHT ADAPTATION. 



17 



Table X. — The water requirement {mean of 6 pots) at Newell, S. Dale., of selected strains 

 of millet in comparison with a commercial variety. 



Variety and number. 



Water requirement. 



1912 1913 



Dakota Kursk (A. D. I. No. 3) 



Kursk (A. D. I. No. 13-3) 



Siberian (A. D. I. No. 4-3) 



Common millet 



239 ±3 

 246 ±3 

 244 ±4 

 316±4 



293 ±3 

 329 ±3 

 326 ±2 



311±11 



303 ±7 



The results of these determinations at Newell show no consistent 

 differences among the selected strains. The two strains of Kursk 

 millet and Siberian millet gave the same water requirement within 

 the limits of experimental error in 1912, but in 1913 there was a 

 difference in favor of Dakota Kursk of 36 ±4 as compared with 

 Kursk (A. D. I. No. 13-3) and 33 ±4 as compared with Siberian 

 millet. In 1914 the water requirements of the two varieties measured 

 (Dakota Kursk and Siberian, A. D. I. No. 4-3) were again practically 

 the same. On the other hand, in 1912 all three of the selected 

 strains had a water requirement much lower than that of common 

 millet, a commercial variety. At Akron, Briggs and Shantz * found 

 that the selected strains of millet differed in their water requirement 

 When the entire season's growth was considered, Dakota Kursk 

 (S. P. I. 34771) showed the lowest water requirement of the varieties 

 and strains compared. Further comparison of the water requirement 

 of these strains is evidently desirable. 



WATER REQUIREMENT OF DAKOTA KURSK MILLET IN SOUTH DAKOTA, COLORADO, 



AND TEXAS. 



The water requirement of Dakota Kursk millet (A. D. I. No. 3) 

 has been measured for three years in South Dakota by the writer and 

 in Colorado and Texas by Briggs and Shantz. The water require- 

 ment shows considerable variation, depending both upon the latitude 

 of the locality where the measurement was made and upon the 

 character of the season. At Newell, S. Dak. (Table XI), the 

 water requirement was 239 in 1912, 293 in 1913, and 311 in 1914. 

 The lowest measurement recorded was 187, at Akron, Colo., in 1912; 

 the highest 331, at Dalhart, Tex., in 1912. The average water 

 requirement for the three years was 256 at Akron, 281 at Newell, 

 and 306 at Dalhart and Amarillo. 



In the matter of seed production this strain of millet shows a very 

 low water requirement. At Newell the water requirement, based on 

 the grain, was 577 in 1912 and 661 in 1913. 2 The water requirement 

 of Grimm alfalfa at the same place was 735 for these two years. It 



i Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L. Op. cit., p. 38, 58. 



2 At Akron in 1912, Briggs and Shantz (op. cit., p. 26) obtained the remarkably low figure of 483 for 

 the water requirement for seed production of Dakota Kursk millet (S. P. I. 34771). 



