Timothy selection for improvement in quality of hay
1936
Evans, M.W. | Ely, J.E.
In 1935 a study was made of the growing habits of the leaves on the plants of three strains of timothy and of the relation of their condition to the quality of the hay. These strains included ordinary timothy which blooms and matures at a medium date, an early strain, and a late strain, each of the selections representing three generations of selections for earliness or lateness and for the tendency for the leaves to remain green as the seeds approached maturity. In the plats of both the early and the late selection the leaves remained green for a longer time than in the plats of ordinary timothy. Although the plats of the early selection were in full bloom 4 days earlier than the plats of ordinary timothy, the leaves became dry only approximately 1.2 days sooner than the leaves of ordinary timothy. The plats of the late selection were in full bloom 5 days later than the plats of ordinary timothy. The leaves appeared 4.8 days later and remained green 7.3 days longer and therefore approximately 12 days later than the leaves of ordinary timothy. As the season advanced, the color reading of the hay from samples of all strains showed a constant decrease in the hue of the hay which indicates the degree of greenness in the grades of hay and in its protein content. These values, correlated with the number of green leaves on the stems, were generally higher for the late selection than for either the early selection or ordinary timothy.
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