Corn Hybrid Selection and Characterization

What I was asked to do was to talk to you about how Pioneer, as one representative of industry is trying to stay ahead of the curve in terms of global climate change.

How are we as a company trying to stay ahead of the implications of the research? I am going to use as a model simply the way we go about selecting and characterizing and commercializing a corn hybrid. IÕll talk about some of the steps we go through, some of the studies that we are involved in to try to address how do we deliver a product, how does industry deliver a product that will be favorable for producers or farmers as these climate changes take place?

The basis for what we think we can do to stay ahead of the curve on climate change is a major network of research stations in all major corn producing states, not only in this country, but also across the world. Basically, we play the numbers game. We test pre-commercial products at as many locations and in as many possible environments as we can.

IÕm going to walk you through an example of the commercialization of a hybrid. This particular hybrid is not that pertinent to Michigan, I apologize for that, and quite frankly itÕs on its way out. This is an older hybrid, but this will give you a scope of how we go through this process and the numbers that are involved.

The first year that we test pre-code(?) this is four years out from commercialization of this particular hybrid. At this point, we have no clue whether this hybrid will be commercialized or not. It needs to continue to show consistent advantages over existing line-ups through a 4-5 year testing period. So this is 4 years out. We only tested at one research station, and these research stations have several locations, so here weÕre looking at only 3 unique locations the first year testing after that pre-code(?)

R2 stage is 3 years out from commercialization. We look at it at 6 different research stations throughout the country, each of those have a number of locations so weÕre looking at 23 locations. Again, it has to pass the test of this increased testing across a wide growing area and adaptability.

R3 is only two years from commercial production if it makes the cut. WeÕve got 17 research stations across the Corn Belt and about 100 unique locations. Again it has to pass the test to move on.

R4 is the final cut. ItÕs the last year before commercialization and that first year of commercialization is a fairly limited commercialization. WeÕre now looking at 127 unique research station locations, plus were putting this in "on farm" trials, strip tests at over 700. So weÕre talking thousands of locations now by the time we get here.

The first year R5, the first year of commercialization, some 4000-5000 "on farm" tests and weÕre still looking at it at research stations around the country at some 150 locations.

So what weÕre trying to do here is to select a product that is adapted to an incredibly wide range of environments, growing conditions and climates, or different areas it will be selected based on that. If it works in one part of the country, for example in the West, the chances of it getting commercialized are very slim. If it works in the East, but not in the West, the chances arenÕt very good that that product will come to market. So thatÕs what weÕre trying to do in terms of bringing a product that will cover a wide range.

Some of the things that have already been talked about this morning in terms of challenges to corn production in the Great Lakes, growing season length, the planting dates. We conduct planting date studies every year across a wide range of environments, not as much as what you see in the hybrid development chart, but we plant everything from the extreme on the early side to the extreme on the late side and everything in the middle. At Ithaca, Michigan this year for instance, we will try to start planting corn around the 15th to 20th of April as the first date, we will plant corn approximately every 10-12 days through about the 10th of July. Obviously some pretty ridiculous extremes, probably on both ends, but thatÕs what weÕre trying to identify. We do it with a number of different hybrids and a number of different CRM hybrids. So we plant hybrids that are out of zone for Ithaca, Michigan and try to come with the right thing. By looking at extremes on those spectrums we think weÕre covering the bases in terms of potential future changes in what we might know about those parts.

High and low temperatures, solar radiation differencesÑagain we use the numbers gameÑover a number of different years we do it. We test different soil types, different farming practices. We consider earlier and warmer growing seasons, how early can we go and how often do we get away with it? Some years it works great, other years it doesnÕt.

Higher rainfall frequency, higher productivity, more extremes in temperature and rainfall; what does that mean for producers selecting a particular variety or hybrid whether itÕs corn, soybeans, or any other crop. What does that mean? Do we cover that database and answer those questions?

We look at it from two perspectives: offensive traits and defensive traits.

Offensive traits being yield, optimum maturity for the market. The higher maturity corn we can grow successfully in the area, we know weÕre going to produce more bushels of corn. Yield potential is the number one offensive trait that producers look for, for the most part, is how many bushels of corn do you put in a bag. We want that on hybrids that stand. We want that on hybrids that dry down in a decent fashion. We want that in hybrids that are resistant to diseases and insects, but number one is still yield; and we respond to that.

Adaptation to high populations, there is a tremendous amount of work going on within Pioneer on selecting hybrids for their adaptability to high populations. The first response we get to that is, "Of course, youÕre a seed company; youÕll sell more seed." What we have reached, in many cases, although some of the discussion weÕve heard today suggests that in the future this might not be true, we think that we have reached the optimal yield per growing acre in terms of corn. In other words, the genetic rate of gain in terms of corn hybrids or other crops has certainly leveled off over the years. We still think we have about a 1% per year gain, but it has leveled off. So the only other ways we can increase production of corn, is to either increase the number of acres that are in production or increase the number of plants on those acres. ThatÕs a significant selection process in terms of finding hybrids that will respond at 36,000; 42,000; or 54,000 plants per acre. First of all, will they stand up? Second of all will they even put an ear on? There again, weÕre testing extremes.

Stock and root strength are factors. If we can grow more corn at 32,000 plants per acre than we can at 28,000, thatÕs fine if the corn is still standing when the combine comes to the field in the fall. We have to combine several traits in order to produce a product that we want.

Defensive traits. Yield stability across a region and across a year is a good indicator of growth tolerance. That used to be our primary method of trying to select for drought tolerance is testing across wide regions for many, many years. We are now involved in examining drought tolerances in a different environment, at the molecular level. WeÕre growing corn in what we call the "drought house" in Johnson, Iowa. WeÕre out in the middle of a cornfield with a plastic canopy over roughly 5-10 acres of corn so we can regulate the water that goes on. It's not "rocket science" per se, thatÕs been done for years, but what weÕre trying to do is identify at the molecular level what genes or what part of the genetic make up of that plant are responsible for a plant that does well under drought versus those that donÕt. This is a simple explanation of the genetic systems marker research being done to determine plants that are resistance to that.

Other things that we do to try to be more versatile in terms of potential changes. We try to provide a package of defensive traits. Things like European corn borer, working on corn rootworm traits, working on traits that will provide defense against other insect pressure and other disease pressure.

At the Ithaca research station in Michigan, Pioneer has one of the largest Diplodia screening nurseries in the country. They screen all of the R2Õs. Now when I talked about the R2 to R4 conversion, remember that we might have 100 potential hybrids at that stage. Four years later when we commercialize, weÕre probably talking about 4-5 of those hundred that are going to make it finally to the cut. We start back at R2 in Ithaca and screen all 100 of those hybrids for resistance to Diplodia and other diseases.

We have other disease nurseries around the country. One of our big "green leaf spot" disease nurseries is in Windfall, Indiana. We screen again, R2 to R3 put heavy inoculation pressure for "green leaf spot" on each of those hybrids that comes up through the line. ThatÕs part of selecting the right ones.

We think the keys to surviving in an ever-changing environment, ever-changing climate are gene discovery, agronomic, and quality traits. The corn has to stand; it doesnÕt only have to put bushels in the combine. Elite germoplasm characterization demonstrating where a particular trait, whether itÕs offensive or defensive, will fit best in a producers operation and how that might change from one region of the state to another or for a region that receives more rainfall than another. Adaptability to change in their environment and their growing condition is done through this extensive characterization process. We eventually end up with a product that hopefully meets producerÕs needs, not only in this part of the country, but across the Corn Belt and around the world.

ThatÕs what Pioneer is doing in terms of trying to be able to stay ahead of the curve on climate changes, environmental changes, growing condition changes, changes in the marketplace. Doing research, playing the numbers game, and incorporating new technology whether itÕs the genetic work for drought tolerance or the genetic work for offensive or defensive traits into are corn hybrid line.

Q: John Oakley: With the regional affects of climate change, donÕt you think you may be leaving some yield level on the table by going for hybrid that will meet such wide specifications?

Response: WeÕre leaving some top end yield potential out to be adaptive across a wide region, is that the question? Yes. That is always a concern. ItÕs something we always have to be careful of. I wasnÕt entirely on the mark when I said that if we have a hybrid that works very well in the West but doesnÕt work in the east it probably wonÕt make the cut. Many of them do make the cut, and they are marketed in the western region. If we have a product for example, 33B50 is a product that works incredibly well in the west and it doesnÕt work very well at all in the east. That product we argued about for many weeks when we got to that R4 to R5 jump whether weÕre going to move it ahead or not because it just doesnÕt do very well out here. It does great in the west. We made the decision to go ahead, and itÕs a huge market leader in the west. So we do some specialization as well. We go after Ð you know the corn breeding station in Ithaca, Michigan, their purpose is to develop corn hybrids that work in this region. We have a corn breeding station in Windfall, Indiana. Their job is to develop hybrids that work incredibly well across the central Indiana, Ohio, Illinois belt. We also put all that together to try to find those hybrids that work all the way from east to west.

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