Author
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Pollak, Linda |
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Submitted to: Latin American Maize Project Final Report
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Scientists estimate that less than 5% of the world's corn germplasm is used in developing corn hybrids. There are nearly 50,000 corn populations stored in the world's germplasm banks, but most of these are not used to improve hybrids because of a lack of evaluation data. The Latin American Maize Project (LAMP) evaluated over 12,000 of the populations for their agronomic characteristics and provided the data to scientists in easily accessed catalog and CD-ROM formats. Populations were identified that will be used in cooperative national and international enhancement projects. These projects will lead to corn hybrids that will be more valuable for the farmer, the animal feeder, and the corn processing industry, ultimately this research will provide the consumer with a more stable food supply and a wider variety of products made from corn. Technical Abstract: The Germplasm Enhancement of Maize Project (GEM) owes its existence to LAMP (The Latin American Maize Project). LAMP provided the information necessary to select germplasm bank accessions for enhancement, thus serving as the first step to share promising maize materials from the germplasm banks with breeders. GEM will complete the process by returning to the germplasm bank enhanced materials developed from the accessions, that can be directly used in applied breeding programs. The objective of GEM is to provide to the corn industry materials developed using germplasm enhancement of useful exotic germplasm, with the ultimate aim of improving and broadening the germplasm base of maize hybrids grown by American farmers. The protocol is for a cooperating company to cross an exotic material by a proprietary inbred line to make a 50% exotic breeding cross, then for another private cooperator to cross the 50% cross with their proprietary line of the same heterotic pattern to make a 25% exotic breeding cross. All breeding crosses are evaluated for yield as testcrosses, and the best used to develop breeding lines by cooperators. GEM enhanced lines and synthetics, and all associated data, will be freely available through NCRPIS after their release. Traits targeted for improvement are agronomic productivity, disease and insect resistance, and value-added characteristics. GEM evaluations have shown that exotic germplasm contains genes for resistance to pests, increased yields, and quality traits. Use of this germplasm will help to provide in the future the best raw materials to meet demand for the production of meat, eggs, milk, and many other food and industrial uses. |
