Corn ear design speeds grain drydown LANCASTER Com ear “engineering” may soon be a major factor in farmers’ fuel bills. Already, some hybrids, because of fewer husks for example, dry down more quickly in the field naturally than do other hybrids, say seed com researchers at DeKalb Agßesearch, Inc. Quicker drydown means lower moisture gram when it comes from the field, and probably shorter artificial drying time. Modem com hybrids were developed primarily in an age when fossil fuels were mzmtam&ss&sk. usmm I GERHART'S ~ I SANDBLASTING | 1 & RESTORATION | % INC. I, I * Box 109 AA, R.D. 1 % i£ Abbottstown, Pa. 17301 g I 717-259-9868 '1 | • Water Blasting | !• Chemical Cleaning p| • Brick & Stone % Repointing & i r Waterproofing | 6';- vmtM How All-Risk Federal Crop Insurance makes you a better risk with your lender. Your lender is looking for investment security just as much as you are That’s why he looks at Federal Crop Insurance as a definite plus With Federal Crop Insurance he knows you’re a better risk because you can • Protect the extra money it takes to produce a high-yielding crop • Save profits you might be forced to sacrifice in a bad year • Protect the savings that could be lost if you didn't carry crop insurance • Use crop insurance as solid loan collateral • Get the kind of repayment power it takes to build financial confidence So call your FCIC representative today Get an All Risk Federal Crop Insurance policy tailored to both your farming and your borrowing needs Federal Crop Insurance In good years and bad, it pays off Federal Crop Insurance US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CONTACT PAUL VAN CLEVE 915 Mondale Rd., Lancaster, Pa 717-392-3032 JOHN HERR Box 54, Mt. Joy, PA 717-653-4342 abundant and cheap. In an effort to meet the world’s rapidly expanding food needs, seed com researchers bred com hybrids that use more of the growing season sometimes adding gram weight right up to frost. More usable gram is produced than if plants were to shut off the growing process early, so that the grain could dry down naturally in the field during warm late-summer days. The drawback, at lsast for those farmers who store dry gram, is that gram has required artificial drying to bring' it down to a moisture content low enough to keep in storage. Naturally, far mers who utilize high moisture com don’t share this concern. High moisture gram was no problem when propane gas, an oil derivative, was readily available and cheap. But today’s farmers are feeling the pinch of higher fuel pnces and short sup plies, as are all consumers. According to Bill Crum, associate director of tem perate com breeding, many of the com ear charac teristics that help determine how rapidly drydown takes place can be manipulated genetically in the process of breeding new hybrids. These include husk cover, moisture content at physiological maturity, kernel size, and kernel osmotic potential (water attracting force). Research is under way to alter these hybrid charac teristics so that they are more suited to an energy short world. Wayne Fowler, the firm’s agronomic education director, feels one of the challenges facing the seed industry is to familiarize corn growers with the characteristics of drydown as opposed to early “die down”, which is simply com plants dying before they have a chance to produce all the grain weight they’re capable of producmg. Technically, drydown is the term used to describe the rate at which the ear loses moisture after the plant has reached physiological maturity. Weather factors such as temperature, humidity and wind influence the rate of drydown along with the characteristics of the hybrid. The number of husks, their thickness, how tightly they seal off the tip of the ear, and the degree to which they open at maturity all in fluence drydown rate. In the process of altering these characteristics genetically, com breeders must keep in THINK DESEL THINK LOMBARDN 26 different models designed to fit most gasoline engine applications ELOMBARDINI The Powerhouse The fastest growing line of small, air-cooled diesels in America. Authorized sales, service and parts. Call today for a quotation. Distributor HOOVER DIESEL SERVICE PH: 717-656-6133 2998 West Newport Rd. Ronks, Pa. 17572 2Vz miles East of Leola - Along 772 DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED Ron Castleberry displays ears and their husks from two different hybrids. The top ear had seven husks and the bottom ear had 10. Ears represented by the top hybrid have from seven to nine husks, while the hybrid represented at the bottom have from nine to 11. mind that the husk cover still should provide protection for the ear. Crum points out the number of husk leaves varies considerably in today’s com hybrids. For example, one hybrid can have as few as seven husk leaves, while another may have as high as 14. Square inches of husk can double from one hybrid to another. “Husks are a big factor in drydown rate that we can manipulate in breeding,” says Crum Low gram-moisture Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 13,1980—89 content at physiological maturity is another desirable trait, he adds. “The range of moistun percentages between hybrids is from the low to the mid 30’s. We probably can’t go much below 30 percent. We’ve seen some helpful differences in our tests. ” The researcher also feels that kernel size, an alterable trait, affects drydown rate. The important question is whether or not kernel size can be decreased while high yield is maintained, he says. The permeability of the seed coat to water and osmotic potential (water attracting force) inside the kernel may also be im portant in drydown rate, says Crum, and it may be our m - BARN PAINTING Call Us Now For Free Estimates PHARESS. HURST ‘ ROl.Box 420 Narvon, Pa 17555 215-445 6186 SNpComp.'n, YOU NEED A The Interest#/ y In This Unit S Has Been A Low Cost Unit . JMH That Will Fit Your Pocket book. B FEATURING • Removable Coils inside a 2Vz Clean out hole. ] • Set Up From Ito 4 compressors, j energy The Price Is RECLAIMING ' Unbelievable! UNIT . CALL 717-626-1152 possible to alter these fac tors genetically. Another factor being considered is altering plants genetically is changing the ratio of tune required for a com plant to complete the parts of its growth cycle. Usually 60 percent of the time is used to develop the plant and the remaining 40 percent to fill the ear. ‘ ‘ Altering this ratio may help us to improve early drydown,” he says. Ron Castleberry, com physiologist at DeKalb, says the breeding job is achieving early drydown is complex. “For example, while kernel black layer formation at the base of the kernel at maturity definitely shuts off the movement of car bohydrates into the com kernel, it is not known what effect black layer formation has on water movement through the kernel,” he comments. ■' m “Early ‘die-down’ is when a plant quits filling the kernels before it would normally mature,” explains Dave Smith, plant pathologist. “Put simply, yield is reduced.” Yield reduction takes place in two ways, points out (Turn to Page 8101 IE! Free PREHEATER 'verwhelmim
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