Download Exploring Maize Germplasm for Unserved People in Marginal

Things to
Look for
When
Selecting
Your Corn
Dave Christensen
Seed We Need
A good crop of
Painted Mountain
Corn. These
improved Native
plants yielded 105
bushels/acre.
This success
involved making
many good
selections for many
years!
Big Timber
Northern
Flints
Mandan Indian
Villages
San Luis,
Colorado
Corn belt
Dents
Southern
Dents
After intermating many populations of
western corn, I set to work selecting.
My gardens have many populations and lines. Sometimes I
control pollination with bagging and detasseling since
good mothers and fathers are needed. This is a lot of
work that fills my summer days.
While I maintained
the diversity of
colors, my primary
selection was for
plants that
survived, yielded
well, and were free
of off-types.
STRESS SELECTION TECHNIQUES:
1. Plant densely and deeply, then thin!
2. Hold back water
3. Hold back fertilizer
4. Grow in Montana: cold springs, very hot
summer days, summer drought, early frost,
hail
Select for horizontal resistance to stress over
years of intense mass selection
With drought stress some
Painted Mountain plants still
yield very well.
I kept in my mind a
vision of my ideotype
after I figured out which
form was the best
adapted here.
When I visit my fields in
the fall, I think of this
type as I evaluate all of
the plants.
Those that aren't the best
are used, but not for
seed!
Short husks leave the grain exposed to the elements
and the birds. Avoid short husks!
Good husks protect the grain until harvest.
This is a well husked ear. However, the long shank
allows the ear to fall to the ground and flag
leaves can waste precious water in a drought.
Here is great diversity for shank length. Selection
can help to fix the right type: short and thin.
I keep opaque, floury kernels because they are soft
and more digestible. Choose the kernel starch
type you need...
...and then select them from many good ears. I
spend my winters carefully selecting seeds. Only
the best of the best get planted in spring.
Select against ears with kernels that split or are
infected with fungi: these can be toxic!
Select many ears from a large population, select
for good ears on healthy plants that stand long
into the fall, and watch out for new traits...
...like natural resistance to grasshoppers!
After picking, dry the seed ears well.
Will you breed the Seed We Need?