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The quality of‘brown midrib‐3’mutant maize grown for forage under field conditions in southern England
Author(s) -
SHELDRICK R. D.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1979.tb01480.x
Subject(s) - stover , mutant , forage , agronomy , biology , crop , zea mays , zoology , lignin , horticulture , botany , gene , biochemistry
Abstract A field trial with maize ( Zea mays ) was sown in two successive years at Hurley to examine whether the advantages in terms of low lignin concentration and high digestibility demonstrated in USA and France for the‘brown mid‐rib‐3’( bm 3 ) mutant over its otherwise isogenic counterpart would still be manifest in a cool maritime climate. Plants of the bm 3 mutant and the normal counterpart (cv. Troyer Reid) together with a locally adapted earlier maturing variety (cv. Caldera 535) were grown in 1976 and 1977 and sampled on three occasions. Despite considerable contrast in the two growing seasons, 1976 being unusually hot, differences of 4 to 8 units in whole‐crop D‐value and 6 to 10 units in stover D‐value were demonstrated in favour of the mutant form, together with significantly lower lignin concentrations (1976, normal 22 g per kg DM, mutant 14; 1977, normal 25 g per kg DM, mutant 16). The results give strong support to the case for introducing the bm 3 gene into forage maize breeding programmes in Britain.