Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T14:28:58.681Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investigations on yield in the cereals1. I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

F. L. Engledow  and
S. M. Wadham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is unlikely that as a formulated problem any consideration of settled crop-husbandry is of greater antiquity than the cereal yield problem. In its broad form it embraces all the possible means of increasing the output of grain per unit area. The earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt must have been compelled to explore these means as soon as they began to encounter the limitations to cultivable area which dwelling in fixed communities imposed. Wheat and barley were their principal food stuffs so that the cereal yield problem, the most comprehensive concern of present-day agriculture, goes back to the remotest antiquity. It must have evoked incessant effort along divers lines and the cumulative result is appreciable from a comparison of the best cereal races of to-day and the forms which like Hordeum spontaneum and Triticum dicoccum dicoccoides have been regarded as the progenitor types. Unfortunately it is not possible to trace back very far the sequence of the solution of the problem as constituted by improvements in husbandry and the utilization of better cereal forms. Fragments of information may be culled from the writings of various periods but they are of doubtful value. The author's reliability is often in question, the unit of measure uncertain, and even the identity of the crop a matter of doubt. Herodotus' well-known story, passed on from another, of increases of 200 and even 300 fold yielded by barley in Mesopotamia in 500 B.c. is possibly the oldest fragment. It is difficult to interpret but it gains colour from the further statement that the leaves of the plant were of the width of four fingers. Concerning progress in England, while reasonably precise information goes back no further than forty years, there are widely separated records of sufficient worth to indicate the historical trend. It has been deduced from the Manorial Records that at the time when that system had become established there was a flat rate of about ten bushels per acre for wheat. Much later, when Sir Charles Davenant compiled An Essay upon the Probable Methods of making a People Gainers in the Ballance of Trade (published 1699), he computed the “neat produce” of eight million acres of arable land to be 79 million bushels of grain.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , October 1923 , pp. 390 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1923

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

This paper will be completed in the next three numbers of this Journal. In each number a complete bibliography will be given but of the Tables only those concerned will be published.

References

BIBLIOGEAPHY

(1) Engledow, F. L. and Shelton, J. P. (1922). “An Investigation upon Certain Metrical Attributes of Wheat Plants.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2) Kulkarni, M. L. “Experiments in Planting Sugar-Cane Sets with a Single Eye-Bud and Pot Experiments with other Seeds placed in Different Positions while Planting.” Agric. Journ. India, 13.Google Scholar
(3) Kulkarni, M. L. “Further Experiments and Improvements in the Method of Planting Sugar-Cane and Further Study in the Position of Seed in the Ground while Planting.” Agric. Journ. India, 14, 5.Google Scholar
(4) Kottur, G. L. “Position of Seed in Cotton.” Agric. Journ. India, 15, 1.Google Scholar
(5) Percival, John. The Wheat Plant. A Monograph. Publ. 1921. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
(6) Rotmistrov, V. (1909). Root Systems of Cultivated Plants of One Year's Growth. Min. of Lab. and Agr., Department of Agriculture, Odessa.Google Scholar
(7) Hays, W. M. and Boss, A. (1899). Minnesota Wheat Breeding. Minnesota.Google Scholar
(8) King, F. H. “Natural Distribution of Roots in Field Soils.” Wisconsin Sta. Report for 1892.Google Scholar
(9) Weaver, J. E. (1919). The Ecological Relations of Roots. Carnegie Inst. of Washington, Pub. No. 286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(10) Howard, A. and Howard Gabrielle, L. C. The Economic Significance of the Root Development of Agricultural Crops.Google Scholar
(11) Harlan, H. V. (1914). “Some Distinctions in our Cultivated Barleys with Reference to their Use in Plant Breeding.” Bull. of U. S. Dep. of Agric. No. 137.Google Scholar
(12) Johannsen, W. “Über die Abanderungen der Gerste mit besonderer Rücksicht auf das Verhältnis des Gewichtes der Körner zu ihrem Gehalt an Stickstoffhaltigen Substanzen.” Meddelelser fra Carlsberg Laborat. T. 4. [Abstract, Brew. Trade Rev. 1899 and Journ. Inst. Brew. 1899, 5.]Google Scholar
(13) Hume, A. N., Champlin, M., and Fowles, M. (1919). “The Influence of Length of Wheat Head on Resulting Crops.” S. Dakota Sta. Bull. No. 187.Google Scholar
(14) Arny, A. C. and Gabber, J. (1918). “Variation and Correlation in Wheat with special reference to weight of seed planted.” Journ. Agric. Res. 14, 9.Google Scholar
(15) Cunningham, C. C. (1923). “Study of the Relation of Length of Kernel to the Yield of Corn.” Journ. Agric. Res. 21, 7.Google Scholar
(16) Yamaguchi, Y. [Abstract in Exp. Sta. Record, 45, 1, 1921.] “Relation of Flowering Time and Position of Flowers on Panicle and Branch to Kernel Weight of Rice.”Google Scholar
(17) Munro, F. and Beaven, E. S. (1900). “Various Conditions affecting the Malting Quality of Barley.” J. R. A. S. E. 11.Google Scholar
(18) Hays, H. K. and Harlan, H. V. (1920). “The Inheritance of the Length of Internode in the Rachis of the Barley Spike.” U. S. Dept. of Agric Bull. No. 869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(19) Parker, W. H. (1914). “A Case of Correlation in Wheat.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(20) Kiessling, L. (1915). Die Vererbung von Stickstoffgehalt und Korngrösse der Gerste. Paul Parey, Berlin.Google Scholar
(21) Pearl, R. (1911). “Some Recent Studies in Variation and Correlation in Agricultural Plants.” Amer. Nat. 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(22) Berry, A. R. (1920). “Composition and Properties of Oat, Grain, and Straw.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(23) Brenchley, Miss, and Hall, A. D. (1908–1910). “The Development of the Grain of Wheat.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 3.Google Scholar
(24) Barber, C. A. “Studies in Indian Sugar-Cane.” Mem. Dep. Agric. India (Botanical Series), 10, No. 2.Google Scholar
(25) Findlay, W. M. (1919). “The Size of Seed.” N. of Scotland Coll. of Agric. Bull. No. 23.Google Scholar
(26) Waldron, L. R. (1921). “Rate of Culm Formation in Bromus inermis.” Journ. Agric. Res. 21.Google Scholar
(27) Summers, F. W. (1921). “The Tillering of Ceylon Rices.” Tropical Agric. 56, 2.Google Scholar
(28) Kidd, F. and West, C. (1918). “Physiological Predetermination: The Influence of the Physiological Condition of the Seed upon the Course of Subsequent Growth and upon the Yield.” Chapter I. Ann. App. Biol. 5, No. 2.Google Scholar
(29) Presoott, J. A. (1920). “A Study of Nitrogen and Root Space.” Sultanic Agric. Soc. Bull. No. 4.Google Scholar
(30) Olympia Agricultural Company (Research Department). First Annual Report, 06, 1921.Google Scholar
(31) Buten, R. H. (1904–1905). “Mendel's Laws and Wheat Breeding.” Journ. Agric. Sci. 1.Google Scholar
(32) Keeble, F. and MissPellew, C.. (1910–1911). “Mode of Inheritance of Stature and Time of Flowering in Pisum.” Journ. Genetics, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(33) Caporn, A. St. C. (1910–1911). “An Account of an Experiment to determine the Heredity of Early and Late Ripening in an Oat Cross.” Journ. Genetics, 7.Google Scholar
(34) Freeman, G. F. (1919). “The Heredity of Quantitative Characters in Wheat.” Journ. Genetics, 4.Google ScholarPubMed
(35) Hoshino, Y. (11 1915). “On the Inheritance of Flowering Time in Peas and Rice,” Journ. Coll. of Agric., Tohoku Imp. Univ. Sapporo, Japan, 6, Part IX.Google Scholar
(36) Cowens, C. (1904). “Ein typisch spaltender Bastard zwischen einer einjahrigen und einer zweijährigen Sippe des Hyoscyamus niger.” Ber. Deut. Bot. Ges. B. 22.Google Scholar
(37) Thompson, W. P. (1912). “The Inheritance of the Length of the Flowering and Ripening Periods in Wheat.” Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada, 12, Series III.Google Scholar
(38) Castle, W. E. (1916). “New Light on Blending and Mendelian Inheritance.” Amer. Nat. 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(39) Harlan, H. V. (1920). “Daily Development of Kernels of Hannchen Barley from Flowering to Maturity at Aberdeen, Idaho.” Journ. Agric. Res. 19.Google Scholar
(40) Beaven, E. S. (11 1920). “Breeding Cereals for Increased Production.” Journ. of the Farmers' Club, Part VI.Google Scholar
(41) Collins, G. N. “Correlated Characters in Maize Breeding.” Journ. Agric. Res. 6(1).Google Scholar
(42) Kiesselbach, T. A. (1922). “Ear Type Selection and Yield of Dent Corn.” Journ. Amer. Soc. Agric. 14.Google Scholar
(43) Brenchley Winifred, E. and Jackson, Violet G. (1921). “Root Development in Barley and Wheat under Different Conditions of Growth.” Ann. Bot. 36.Google Scholar
(44) Jackson, Violet G. (1922). “Anatomical Structure of the Roots of Barley.” Ann. Bot. 36.Google Scholar
(45) Balls, W. L. (1914). “The Pre-determination of Fluctuating Characteristics.” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.Google Scholar
(46) Balls, W. L. and Holton, F. S. “Analyses of Agricultural Yield.” Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B. 206 and 208.Google Scholar
(47) Backhouse, W. O. “The Inheritance of Glume-length in Triticum pohnicum—A Case of Zygotic Inhibition.” Journ. Genetics, 7.Google Scholar
(48) Engledow, F. L. (1920). “The Inheritance of Glume-length and Grain-length in a Wheat Cross.” Journ. Genetics, 10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(49) Balls, W. L. (1909). Studies of Egyptian Cotton.Google Scholar
(50) Groth, B H. A. Bulletins of the New Jersey Ezp. Sta. Nos. 228, 238, 239, 242, 278.Google Scholar
(51) Burtt-Davy, J. (1912). “Observations on the Inheritance of Characters in Zea Mays (Linn.).” Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Africa, 2.Google Scholar
(52) Richey, F. D. (1922). “The Experimental Basis for the Present Status of Corn Breeding.” Journ. Amer. Soc. Agron. 9.Google Scholar
(53) Gaines, E. F. (1920). “Inheritance of Resistance to Bunt of Wheat.” Journ. Amer. Soc. Agron. 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar