Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-02-17
Inbred Corn.

Inbred Corn.
An Iowa correspondent writes that
he has two strains of Reid's yellow
dent corn, and he wishes to know If
it will improve his corn to mix these
two strains together, or If 1t would be
better to plant them separately. In
other words,'' he says sis there any
such thing as inbreeding corn?'
Corn is cross bred plant; inbreed-
ing is very detrimental TO it's vigor,
and soon leads to sterility. BY in
bred corn we mean corn which has
been produced from an ear which was
fertilized by pollen of the same plant
or Of a brother plant. The corn plant
seeks to prevent inbreeding by send
ing out it's tassel several days before
| the silk of the ears is ready for pollen.
In this way most Of the kernels in an
ear of corn are fertilized 10y pollen
from different plants. But when
corn is grown according to the ear to
row method or for any other reason
related corn plants are grown close TO
each other, inbreeding occurs Whlch
in time leads to a decreased yield.
This is shown quite conclusively by
Illinois experiments, in which part or
the plants were detasseled in order to
make sure that the ears would be
cross pollinated. Ears frcmsdetasseled
plants gave an increased yield over
the ears which were partly inbred of
| l. 6 bushels per acre the first year, ia
bushels the second year, and 1O6
bushels the third. At the Illinois
station it was also found that crossing
corn of different strains and varieties
gave an increased yield of from two to
fifty per cent. with an average in
crease of fourteen per cent. Bulletin
No. 14l, of the Bureau of Plant In
dustry of the United States Depart
ment eff Agriculture, Washington, D..
c., entitled, "The Importance OF
Broad Breeding in Corn, y deals quite
fully with the point we have been
discussing.
1t is probable that our corn breeders
in fixing their types, especially the
show types, have been doing more or
less lnbreeding without really know
ing it. We suspect that the produc-
tiveness of many highly inbred strains
of corn would be greatly increased for
year or two at least by planting it
in the field with some other strain or
variety. OF course in this way uni
formity of type would be lost, but II
an increased yield of five to ten bush
els to the acre is secured, the average
farmer will not mind lack in uniform
ity. In year or two it is likely that
the effect of the cross will die out ana
the new strain will produce no more
than the parent strains. All farmers
know that by crossing two breeds OF
hogs, the vigor and health Of the off,
spring is generally increased the hrst
generation, but they also know by SO
doing the type is broken up and the
good results are not so noticeable In
succeeding years. Livestock breeders
have found that in the end it is Dad
policy to cross distinct breeds Corn
breeding, however, is different pro-
position. BY means of a seed plot
two pure strains might be kept con-
tinually on hand, and by planting
these two strains together in another
plot, cross. bred seed might be secured
for planting in the field. But all
this is largely matter of theory.
We do know that inbreeding will
decrease the yield of corn, and that
cross breeding of distinct types will
increase the yield. About the real
principles of breeding for the greatest
possible yield we know very little.
Our experiment. stations should dig
into this matter Wallace's Farmer.