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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1969-03-27, Page 14:2A Clinton ,Nev>{s,Recprsi, Thursday, March :27, 1969. Corn • silage .for. dairy cafile Agassiz, )3, C., January 24, 1069 — On the West cpast, a major drawback to corn Silage is its low percentage of dry matter nutrients. Cows must eat 100 pounds of average silage to obtain 25 P winds of dry matter nutrients. "There is another Related problem," says Dr. Donald Waldern, a nutrition expert at the Canada Department of Agriculture's Agassiz Research Station. "There is so much moisture in our silage that the .cow's ability to take in dry matter is restricted. "We're trying to increase the dry matter nutrients consumed ' from the feed. In some experiments, this involves adding materials such as dehydrated pelleted corn, silage when the wet silage is fed. In other experiments, our agronomy ' experts are testing corn varieties because some produce silage with a higher percentage of dry matter nutrients than others," They have even moved back to the fertilizer stage because there are indications that the dry matter nutrients of silage can be increased by changing the amounts and kinds of fertilizers applied to the crop. The tests are thorough. The corn is sampled before it is ensiled, when it comes out of silos, while it is being digested, and after cattle have passed feces. This elaborate ,testing enables the scientists to determine exactly what is happening at the various stages of production, storage and feeding, and helps Dr. Waldern pin -point problems that are limiting milk production. "We are attempting to develop a testing system which will predict the energy value of forages," says Dr. Waldern. "We can analyze the I l o • Corn silage for forages for protein, moisture, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper, with equipment available at the Agassiz and Summerland Research Stations. We can also determine the acidity of silage. "Farmers can have their silage analyzed 1.. a fee at the Summerland Research Station under a cooperative forage testing program sponsored by the B.C. Beef Cattle Growers Association, but the analysis does not include energy predictions. We hope to develop a reliable test that can . be performed either with chemicals or by an artificial rumen technique using rumen fluid from cattle." dairy cattle In other nutrition experiments, Dr. Waldern is trying to determine. the copper, zinc, phosphorus and sulphur requirements of dairy cattle. All of the tests are done wi!!• the exceptionally high produur„e Holsteins the Agassiz researchers have bred. Many of the cows hold production records that rank them among the best milkers in the world. "We feel we must work with these high -producing cattle because they are the ones farmers are having nutrition troubles with. There are fewer problems with cattle that aren't taxing themselves to the limit, but, by the same token, these are the cattle that don't produce as much profit. Find new wheat -killing grass virus ° Ottawa, Januray 24, 1969 -- A new grass virus has been discovered by Canada Department of Agriculture scientists. Dr. J. T. Slykhuis of the Cell Biology Research Institute discovered the virus in some grasses he collected in 1966 from Alberta roadsides. In the laboratory, some strains of the virus are so potent that they kill wheat plants within two weeks of intection. Other strains show the usual virus symptoms ,of leaf striping. "We know, what the particles look like because we've been able to isolate the virus and look at it under the electron microscope," Dr. Slykhuis says. "We also know the grasses it infects and we know its potential damage if it should spread rapidly into grain fields. What we don't know is how it could spread, and we don't know if it attacks cereal plants in the field." So far the virus has been found in only one place in - Canada. "If it is in wheat fields we haven't recognized it so far," Dr. Slykhuis adds. "That makes it a pretty fascinating virus." Dr. Slykhuis and Dr. T. G. Atkinson of the Lethbridge Research Station collected the roadside grasses because they thought these perennial grasses were harboring another dangerous virus -- wheat streak mosaic. "We didn't realize we had the new virus until later," Dr. Slykhuis says., "We found it could be harbored by a number of perennial grasses, but it didn't 'do much harm to the grasses. That means it could live there for as long as the grasses survives' When the virus is transferred under laboratory conditions to wheat however, some strains are so potent that plants shrivel up and die within days of infection. "it appears that we have been lucky so far. There is no evidence that the Vitus currently spreads to wheat under field conditions," Dr, Slykhuis says. "If that happens, we will have advance knowledge ` with Which to combat it" The saine virus can attack other cereat crops, including oats and barley. The research i5 now concentrating on discovering the vector that carries the virrts from one plant to another arid on possible control methods. Dr, Slykhuis has also investigated another 'virus on quack grass, one that can infect wheat but which normally causes only minor damage. This. , virus also has, some. very' potent strains and "we're concerned that 'if the disease were to transfer more readily, it could be very bad for wheat — as bad as wheat streak mosaic." This quack grass ' virus is carried by mites, but research so far indicates ' that it, can only be transferred if there is a high population of mites in the area. "That either means that only, a small percentage of the mites are infected by the virus, or that only a small percentage of them have the ability to pass on the virus to wheat," Dr. Slykhuis says. The disease does not appear to be a major problem u^ -ler normal wheat -cropping conditions, but Dr. Slykhuis has discovered that it could become a major threat under certain conditions. For example of „wunter.,_ wheat is planted an :;June' or ' August instead . of September "we get almost 100 percent infection. That shows that the disease can spread rapidly during the warm conditions of summer and could become a problem if winter wheat was sown much earlier than at present." "We have a collection of about 15 cereal viruses at our Ottawa laboratories," Dr. Slykhuis says, "probably one of the biggest cereal virus collections in the world." Rabbits help us to discover new virus diseases. An antiserum is prepared for each known virus by injecting purified preparations of the virus into rabbits. The rabbits fight the virus by producing CLINTON RECREATION COMMITTEE'S 3rd Annual RN "We seem to have a particular problem here with copper, zinc and phosphorus de fic iencies," says Dr. Waldern. "Problems associated with low sulphur intake could occur when urea is fed." Unknowingly, minerals have been a problem to Eraser Valley milk producers. In some feeding surveys farmers reported breeding problems. These can be associated with cattle diets that lack some of the major elements and micro -elements. "We will always be looking at this problem, especially for our high -production animals whish experience more trouble," says Dr. Waldern. antibodies in their blood which attack only that one type of virus and no other viruses. Dr:, Slykhuis then takes some of • the .blood' :from" the rabbit and uses it to test other viruses. If the virus; and blood serum when mixed in a test tube, produce a precipitate, Dr• Slykhuis knows the test tube virus is the same as the one that was injected into the rabbit. If no precipitate results, he knows his test tube virus may be different from the one he injected into the rabbit. Every • time the researchers discover a new virus, they like to learn enough aboiut it to determine if it does or could cause crop losses. The viruses found in wild grasses are under intensive study before they develop into a major crop threat. CLINTON'S 1969 ICE QUEEN WILL BE CROWNED AT THIS ANNUAL CARNIVAL BOYS HOCKEY 6.45 p.m. PEEWEES vs. FATHERS GIRLS HOCKEY 1.30 p,m. 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