HANDY BOOKLET ISSUED ON N.Z. WHEAT PESTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 63, 14 November 1949, Page 3

HANDY BOOKLET ISSUED ON N.Z. WHEAT PESTS

From its some 200,000 acres given to wheat growing, Nfew Zealand has a relatively high average yield, but it has been shown that fungus diseases and insect pests do much to limit this yield. Because the yield is high, the effect by diseases and pests are often apt to be minimised. The investigations into symptoms, predisposing factors, and preventative measures—based on original laboratory research and field observations in New Zealand, and on overseas work—are reported in fifty pages of text, and thirty-six pages of illustrations and four pages of references in “Wheat Diseases and Insect Pests, ’ a’small booklet issued by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. This booklet is a concise and comprehensive survey of its subjects, except that rust and smut are not dealt with since recent investigations into these diseases are forming the basis of a separate report. Each .investigation on a disease or a pest is given in a separate section, commencing with a summary of the information available of its appearance and occurrence, and followed in more detail with points of practical interest. Methods for the control of the disease or pest are given when research evidence is sufficient to justify their recommendation, and it will be found under most sections that this has been possible. The illustrations, mostly reproduced from actual photographs, ""have been well selected, and they will assist the reader in the ready recognition of the many diseases and pests affecting wheat.