Wednesday, 9 November 2005
247-7

This presentation is part of: Symposium--Organic Seed Production and Breeding for Organic Production Systems

Field Corn Hybrids and Open-Pollinated Varieties for Organic Systems.

Margaret E. Smith, Frank Kutka, Jane Mt. Pleasant, and Klaas Martens.

Although field corn has been extensively evaluated under conventional production conditions, very few systematic trials of field corn hybrids or open-pollinated varieties have been done in organic systems. Doing small plot trials on organically-managed fields has unique challenges compared to fields where herbicides can be used to manage weeds in alley-ways between plots. For the last three years, Cornell's corn breeding project has worked out techniques for field corn variety evaluation on organic farms and evaluated a range of hybrids (most involving publicly-available inbreds) and open-pollinated varieties using these techniques. The field techniques developed include special cultivations and intersown buckwheat for weed control. A number of highly productive hybrids and some competitive open-pollinated varieties have been identified.

See more of Symposium--Organic Seed Production and Breeding for Organic Production Systems
See more of C04 Seed Physiology, Production & Technology

See more of The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 6-10, 2005)