July 1, 1924 
Inheritance in Kota-Hard Federation Crosses 
39 
ASH IN FLOUR 
The amount of ash in flour is an im¬ 
portant factor in the grading and selling 
of flour. A considerable proportion of 
the flour trade buys flour on its ash 
content, as in general it furnishes a 
basis for judging the extraction in 
milling. Certain varieties, however, 
such as Kota, have a relatively high 
ash as an inherent quality. While a 
larger quantity of nutritive ash is not 
objectionable in itself, a variety which 
normally has a higher ash than the 
class average is at some disadvantage 
under present flour standards. 
Experiments reported by Clark and 
Shollenberger (7) have shown Kota to 
have a significantly higher ash content 
than that of Marquis. Table IV shows 
The data show considerable differ¬ 
ences in ash content and more than 
should be due to differences in milling. 
There is evidence, therefore, that ash 
content is inherited as other quanti¬ 
tative characters, and that if sufficient 
numbers were studied, the mode of 
its inheritance could be determined 
and selections made which would have 
an inherently low ash. 
CORRELATION OF CHARACTERS IN 
THE F 2 AND F s 
An inheritance study of the char¬ 
acters discussed would not be suf¬ 
ficiently inclusive without some knowl¬ 
edge of the effect the more important 
characters have on each other and on 
yield. The amount of correlation 
which is found between the different 
Table XXXI. —Segregation of 29 F 4 selections of the Kota-Hard Federation and 
reciprocal crosses, together with the parents and Marquis, for ash in flour, at Man- 
dan, N. Dak., in 1923 
Ash in flour (class) 
F 4 hybrids 
Hard 
Federa¬ 
tion 
Kota 
Marquis 
Number 
Percent¬ 
age 
Number 
Number 
Number 
i 
0.55_ _ ! 
2 
6.9 
0.65_ _ _ 1 
12 
41.4 
1 
0.75_ _ J 
9 
31.0 
2 
1 
0.85_ ! 
3 
10. 3 
1 
0.95_ • ! 
1 
3.4 
1,05.. __ ! 
1 
3.4 
1.15.. ! 
1 
i 3.4 
Total__1 
1 
29 
j 99.8 
2 
2 
1 
Hard Federation to average less than 
Marquis in ash content. In the pres¬ 
ent study of hybrids the ash content of 
the flour could not be very accurately 
determined, due to the small amount 
of grain milled and the nonuniformity 
of milling. It seemed desirable, how¬ 
ever, to determine the ash content of 
the flour available to see if segregation 
for ash content appeared to occur in 
the hybrids. The data obtained are 
given in Table XXXI. 
It will be seen that the ash content 
is unusually high for both hybrids and 
varieties. This is largely due to the 
method of milling, the small amount 
of wheat used making it difficult to 
keep part of the germ and shorts from 
passing into the flour. The wheat also 
was not scoured, which undoubtedly 
helped to increase the ash. The 
higher ash content of Marquis and 
Hard Federation over that of Kota, 
may be due in part to their shrunken 
kernels and low weight, due to injury 
from stem rust. 
characters should serve as an important 
guide for the making of further selec¬ 
tions. Coefficients have been deter¬ 
mined for the correlation of several 
characters with date of heading and 
yield. Those were calculated by the 
product moment method for coefficient 
of correlation. The correlations of 
height and stem-rust infection with 
date of heading, and date of heading, 
height, stem-rust infection, and awn 
classes with yield, combine the prin¬ 
cipal data on drought and rust ob¬ 
tained in this study. 
Time of maturity is important in 
determining the ability of a variety to 
evade or resist drought and rust. 
It has not been determined how early 
wheats may mature in the northern 
spring-wheat area before yield is re¬ 
duced. High yield may be sacrificed 
with increasing earliness of varieties. 
Real resistance to both rust and drought 
probably is more desirable than earli¬ 
ness. Both might combine to make 
for maximum success. 
