For both Minn11 C3 JWE and Minn11 C3 JWL, embryos were found that contained either four, five, or six leaves. Alternately, sweet corn may be different than field corn in that four leaves are possible in the sweet corn embryo. By far, the majority of kernels in both populations had five leaves. Consequently, the number of juvenile leaves probably is not controlled by genes during seed development and is not directly related to the number of embryonic leaves. This means that juvenile leaf number is determined post-embryonically, either by genetic or environmental stimulus, or a combination of both.
Further research is needed to determine what affects juvenile leaf number.
Similar to Minn11 C3 JWE and Minn11 C3 JWL, the majority of kernels in most families had five embryonic leaves except 8839 in which the majority of kernels had six leaves. The latter two possibilities are unlikely. However, seed maturation differences caused by environmental variation were probably minimal in this study since all kernels were grown in the same environment and were harvested after physiological maturity. In addition, the hybrids showed no hybrid vigor for embryonic leaf growth. This research has provided further evidence that juvenile leaf number is not determined by embryonic leaf number.