This isn't your ordinary hybrid. But some of its germ plasm could one day be in the seed you plant in your fields. Pollak directs the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize Project, a collaborative effort of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, several land-grant universities and commercial seed corn companies. She and other scientists are scouring genetic material primarily from Latin America and South America, looking for new and improved traits to incorporate into commercial hybrids for the Corn Belt. By their very nature, commercial corn-breeding programs limit diversity.
Breeders cross different lines to capture the best traits while eliminating undesirable ones.
Keeping only the best of the best gradually narrows the gene pool. Additionally, plant breeders are under pressure to produce results today, not tomorrow. GEM is a true gem for breeders because it does much of the early sorting and reviewing of genetic material. Scientists associated with GEM, for example, are evaluating about 260 kinds of corn or accessions that were selected for yield from more than 12,000 kinds identified from another program. The challenge has always been how to efficiently extract these genes and get them into commercially usable material.