Ferdinand von Lochow (plant breeder)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ferdinand von Lochow III.

Ferdinand von Lochow III. (* September 16, 1849 in Petkus near Berlin ; † September 8, 1924 there ) was a German farmer and the breeder of a new variety of rye .

origin

His parents were the manor owner Ferdinand von Lochow (1819–1865) and his wife Agnes von Schlieben (1827–1915), daughter of the Saxon major Friedrich von Schlieben and Emilie von Leubnitz . The Prussian general Ewald von Lochow was his brother.

Life

Born on September 16, 1849 on his father's estate Petkus in Fläming , he attended the Melanchthon-Gymnasium in Wittenberg , later the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin, and then turned to a military career. On the battlefield near Sedan he became an officer ( Seconde-Lieutenant ). In Orléans seriously wounded, he returned to the farmer to be. After teaching and civil service years in Braunschweig and in the Mark Brandenburg he became a student of Julius Kühn at the University of Halle . In the semesters 1873/74 - 75/76 he was active in what was then ALV Agronomia Halle (later Corps Agronomia Hallensis zu Göttingen ), to which he remained loyal throughout his life.

He died on September 8, 1924 at the age of 74.

breed

Von Lochow managed the 1050 hectare manor Petkus, the soil of which was mainly diluvial sand . With an annual rainfall of only 615 mm and harsh winters were from agriculture can be achieved only meager income.

Through constant selection in purposeful, persistent work, he succeeded in breeding a considerably undemanding, but very powerful type of rye on sandy soil with a harsh climate , which did not fail even under all better climatic and soil conditions, but was able to adapt well and brought high reliable grain yields . In European rye-growing areas, Petkuser winter rye and crosses with it are among the most widely grown rye varieties. The importance of successful breeding for agriculture was so important that, for example, in the 1930s, 90% of all German rye and around half of the world's rye harvest were due to Lochow's breeding work. Von Lochow later achieved the same breeding success with the Petkuser summer rye as well as with oat breeding (Petkuser yellow oats).

Other breeds such as summer rye, Petkuser yellow oats or the potato variety "Woltmann 34" and Petkuser Lein were widely used. They all helped make Lochow's efforts to improve the economics of agriculture on naturally poor sandy soils a success. Von Lochow also transferred his findings from plant breeding to the zootechnical field and thus became a pioneer and promoter of systematic performance tests in cattle breeding. Under the principle of “breeding for performance with due regard for the constitution”, he built up his cattle, noble pigs and poultry breeding. Von Lochow made a name for himself as a pioneer in the field of thin sowing, increased use of fertilizers and ultimately also for the expansion of the agricultural cooperative system.

Honors

Memorial stone in Petkus

In 1871 he was awarded the House Order of the White Falcon of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach in the level of Knight's Cross with Swords . In 1914 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty at the University of Halle and in 1922 the first honorary doctorate in agriculture from the Agricultural University Berlin .

In Petkus there is a memorial stone for von Lochow in front of the new seed breeding building.

family

Ferdinand von Lochow married in 1883 in Berlin Anna von Bülow (1862-1948), a daughter of the Prussian general Hans von Bulow . The couple had two sons and three daughters. The breeding work was continued by his eldest son Ferdinand von Lochow IV (1884–1931) .

Ferdinand von Lochow VII continues the Petkus farm. A hotel continues today in the former seed breeding building built by Ferdinand von Lochow. His brother, Andreas von Lochow, runs a management consultancy for fleet management as well as internet trading.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die kleine Enzyklopädie , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Volume 2, page 64
  2. ↑ No. 21 on the award list of the German Society for Religious Studies
personal data
SURNAME Lochow, Ferdinand von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lochow III., Ferdinand von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German farmer and the breeder of a new variety of rye
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Petkus near Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1924
Place of death Petkus near Berlin