AgriLife Research study opens doors for increases in Texas corn yields, aflatoxin resistance
Monday, 2015/03/30 | 12:05:10
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March 18, 2015 Texas A&M AgriLife Research
Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION – A ground-breaking Texas A&M AgriLife Research-led study on corn has identified useful gene variations for yield increases, drought tolerance and aflatoxin resistance that could make a real difference to Texas producers in the years to come, according to researchers.
Dr. Seth Murray, Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn breeder in College Station, looks at corn plants during a field day. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Li Zhang)
The study, titled “Genome Wide Association Study for Drought, Aflatoxin Resistance, and Important Agronomic Traits of Maize Hybrids in the Sub-Tropics” was recently published in PLOS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication.
The study included the growing years of 2011, a drought year, and 2012, and was conducted on dryland and irrigated corn in College Station and in Mississippi, all with similar results, said Dr. Seth Murray, an AgriLife Research corn breeder in the soil and crop science department of Texas A&M University at College Station.
Murray said at this time all corn seed available to growers in Texas comes from commercial breeding conducted in the Midwest. As a result, there’s been no significant increase in corn yields in Texas for many years, as reflected in their previous publications.
Murray designed this recently published study to see if there was a genetic reason, possibly the use of Midwest-temperate rather than sub-tropical genetics, limiting production.
He was joined in his research by Dr. Mike Kolomiets, an AgriLife Research plant pathologist, and Dr. Tom Isakeit, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist, both in College Station, along with students Dr. Ivan Barrero Farfan, Gerald De La Fuente and Pei-Cheng Huang.
Dr. Ivan Barrero Farfan, a Texas A&M University student working with Dr. Seth Murray during the study, pollinates corn to make hybrids for testing. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Dr. Seth Murray)
Other researchers who also grew the test plots and contributed to the analysis were Dr. Marilyn Warburton, Dr. Paul Williams and Dr. Gary Windham, all U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service researchers at Mississippi State University.
The study was funded by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative for Plant Breeding and Education grant. Additional support was given by the Texas Corn Producers and Texas A&M AgriLife.
Basically, Murray said, there are 2.4 million acres of corn planted in Texas, with each bag of seed costing at least $150 and covering over 2 acres, which equates to well over $180 million of sales in Texas for corn seed.
“The idea is if it is bred in the best conditions in the Midwest, it should survive in the not-so-good conditions we see here in Texas,” he said. “So we believe the private breeders for the commercial industry are trying to do the best for most producers, just not our producers. There has not been an effort to develop corn that addresses the unique needs of southern locations, especially not in the way they have for the Midwest.”
Murray said addressing the needs of the southern locations is not as simple as adding more traits.
“A lot of it will come from identifying and using the right native genetics,” he said. “Growers are smart and will find those companies that are selling adapted hybrids, which will improve both yield and aflatoxin resistance, ultimately improving everyone’s bottom line”
He said in their search for genes or gene variants that improve corn for the southern U.S., most of the best diversity came from Mexico, where wild corn was domesticated, and South America, not the Midwest.
“There’s a lot of benefit to having the tropical material brought up and crossed with temperate material generally sold by commercial companies,” Murray said.
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