Science criterion D
Hybridization of corn:
Corn or maize producers are constantly questioning variables such as hybrids and
plant populations that play an important role in yield and subsequently the net
returns they receive. The demand is constantly increasing for food, fuel, and feed,
and corn is a common crop grown both in the US and globally that is often used to
meet these demands. Increasing use of food crops such as corn for biofuel
production will worsen the risk of hunger for the world’s poor. The challenge to
agriculture is to produce enough food to meet the demands of an increased
population and biofuel production demand, and this is particularly relevant to corn,
which is one of the top three most important cereal crops in the world. Optimizing
harvestable corn grain yield requires matching the best corn hybrids with optimal
plant populations. Research indicates that plant populations have increased
dramatically in corn production over the past 40 years.
Older hybrids out-yielded newer hybrids at lower plant populations, while at higher
plant populations, the reverse occurred. The major genetic contribution to the
increase in yield has been to increased “crowding stress” tolerance. This tolerance
has resulted in increased grain yield through planting higher corn plant populations.
The introduction of multiple sources of insect resistance through biotechnology and
plant breeding has resulted in improved plant health which has resulted in
increased corn populations. Plant population density has important effects on
vegetative and reproductive development of corn. Corn yield is low with low plant
density because of little plasticity in leaf area per plant . Additionally, corn plants
have a small capacity to develop new reproductive structures in response to an
increase in available resources per plant. However, if the plant density is too high,
the decrease in the availability of resources per plant in the period surrounding
silking generates a marked fall in yield per plant that is not offset by the increase in
the number of plants.
This occurs in some hybrids due to poor pollination resulting from a delayed silking
period compared with tassel emergence and/or due to a limitation in assimilate
supply that caused kernel and ear abortion. Also, the optimum plant density
(number of plants that maximizes grain yield) depends on the hybrid. Optimum
plant population density is usually higher for short-season than for full-season
hybrids. For short-season hybrids more plants are needed to reach the same
amount of cumulative intercepted radiation because of their small leaf area per
plant and small leaf area plasticity and a shorter duration of growth. Most corn
hybrids have been developed to produce a single harvestable ear under normal
production conditions. Single-eared corn hybrids are often characterized as having
either an indeterminate or determinate ear growth habit. According to some seed
companies, ear size and number play a significant role in determining a hybrid’s
yield potential at varying plant populations. A “fixed” ear hybrid is associated with a
relatively determinate ear size that limits its capacity to compensate for variation in
plant populations while a “flexible” ear hybrid has an indeterminate ear size that
can compensate for variation in plant populations.
