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Use of Controlled Low Temperature in Evaluating the Cold Hardiness of Inbred and Hybrid Maize 1
Author(s) -
Haskell Gordon,
Singleton W. Ralph
Publication year - 1949
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1949.00021962004100010007x
Subject(s) - agricultural experiment station , library science , geneticist , national laboratory , graduation (instrument) , hardiness (plants) , operations research , history , mathematics , computer science , physics , horticulture , biology , archaeology , agriculture , engineering physics , geometry , cultivar , genetics
H E ability of a corn seed to germinate and produce T a good corn plant in a cold wet soil may a t times mean a successful crop instead of a failure. Consequently, there has been considerable work attempting to make corn lines more cold hardy. In many instances the lines of corn being tested have been planted in the field just as early as i t is possible to work the soil in the spring. Planting dates in Connecticut over the past I O years have varied from late March to late April, a t least a month and sometimes two months before the regular planting season. Growers of early sweet corn may plant as early as late April. To them cold hardiness is extremely important as i t may mean a good or a very poor stand. The old Spancross C13.4 has proved very cold hardy and has been used in these early plantings. In recent years sweet corn has been grown in increasing amounts in southern England. Since there is considerable cold, wet weather after the corn is planted, it is essential to use cold hardy strains. Since the climatic conditions vary so much from one year to another we wondered whether controlled growing conditions might not give more reliable data and a more sensitive test for cold resistance. The following experiment was designed to determine whether a cold room test could be used to replace the customary early spring sowings and whether it could offer a more controlled stringent method for selecting hardier corn lines with the ability to germinate under cold conditions. When discussing the origin and importance of sweet corn as an Indian food plant in the United States, Erwin ( z ) ~ has recorded that sweet corn tends, under the favorable environment of the corn belt, to revert to field corn type becoming more starchy or forming starch caps. He also recognized that sweet corn is inherently a plant of less vigor and stamina than field corn, the seed being more likely to decay if planted too early, while in the autumn it is slower in curing than the latter and so more subject to injury from freezing. Haber (4) also concluded that sweet corn mutations are less likely to survive than field corn in the struggle for existence under the rugged environment of the American Indian agriculture. By comparing the behavior of the starchy and sugary lines of corn used in the experiment it should be possible