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Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 11, 1997—Page 19
(0(D1N miLl MIWS
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC , INC
Corn Lines Resist
- Pests, Give Better Yields
NEWARK, Del. Native
Americans domesticated com
from a wild grass species about
10,000 years ago. The original
com breeders on this continent,
they ‘developed a com plant
that was similar to what we
know today.
But it wasn’t until the 19305,
when the hybrid breeding me
thod was introduced, that com
yields began to increase dra
matically.
Today, University of Dela
ware (UD) researchers are de
veloping even more productive
com lines with resistance to
pests and disease that seemed
impossible just a few decades
ago.
This spring the college re
leased two new inbred com
lines DEI and DE2 for
the seed industry. Dr. Jim
Hawk, a professor in the plant
and soil sciences department,
and Tecle Weldekidan, re
search associate, developed
DEI and DE2 as potential par
ents of hybrids and as gene
sources for improved commer
cial inbreds.
“DEI and DE2 are sister
lines which have intermediate
levels of resistance to Euro
pean com borer, a major insect
pest of com,” said Hawk.
“They have the potential to
produce good yields and ap
pear to have tolerance to heat
and drought conditions. The
major U.S. com companies, as
well as several smaller com
panies, have already requested
seeds.”
DEI and DE2 are not the
first com lines Hawk’s breed
ing program has released.
DEBII, an inbred developed in
the early 1980 s, is recognized
worldwide as the standard for
resistance to European com
borer. DEBII has been used
around the world both as a
source of genetice resistance in
breeding programs and for ba
sic studies on pest resistance.
Hawk and Weldekidan are
hopeful that the two inbred
lines will also find a niche in
the seed industry.
Developing new inbred com
lines like DEI and DE2 takes
years of research. Six to seven
generations of the plant must
be self-pollinated. After that,
the inbred must be evaluated
both alone and in hybrid com
binations for three to four years
for yield, pest resistance and
agronomic performance. Hawk
began working on DEI and
DE2 in the winter of 1989 with
Weldekidan and assistants Jan
et. Burris and Norma Long
hauscr.
To accelerate the inbreeding
process. Hawk’s team grows
two generations of com each
year, one in the Delmarva re
gion in summer and another in
Florida, Mexico or Hawaii in
winter.
“At any given time, we may
j>e inbreeding some 2,500
fines,” said Weldekidan. “We
'also lest about 1,000 different
hybrids each year. Of these, we
select only a fraction for fur
ther research.”
Developing inbreds is a
labor-intensive process. When
the plants begin to flower in
early July, Hawk’s team can be
found out in com fields with a
group of 20 high school stu
dents, painstakingly hand-pol
linating the plants. The first
step is to cover the ear shoot
with a waterproof bag before
the silks appear. Pollen is then
collected from the desired male
plant and applied to the silks in
such a way that there is no
chance of contamination by
foreign pollen. Hawk’s entire
group may work up to 10 hours
a day, six days a week for an
entire month.
‘Timing is critical,” Hawk
said. “The whole process is
weather-dependent because
com responds to heat and
moisture, and the pollen on the
tassel lasts only three to five
days.”
When two inbred lines are
crossed, a hybrid is created.
The hybrid may have higher
disease and insect resistance,
greater yield or a number of
other qualities sought by the
com breeder.
For hybrid development, de
sirable traits may be contri
buted by either parent. In se
lecting a male parent. Hawk
looks for good pollen produc
tion, high yield, resistance to
disease and pests, standability
and drought tolerance. In the
female parent, grain texture
and seedling emergence are
particularly important.
After choosing the parents,
the com breeder’s work be
comes even more exacting.
Weldekidan has volumes of
data attesting to the meticulous
record-keeping and attention to
detail that are necessary. Each
com hybrid must be handled
separately. One 6-acre plot
translates into about 6,000 se
parate packages of seeds. ,
“Although new breeding
methods use moleeular biology
to alter genes,” Hawk said,
“traditional breeding is still an
essential part of line develop
ment. Working with the com
plete com' 1 genome as opposed
to single genes can provide
broader resistance to disease,
pests and adverse conditions.
“We know we’ll never
achieve perfection in a single
inbred line,” he said; “But we
can continue to develop new
inbreds that will produce better
hybrids for the benefit of agri
culture.”