NECC1008: Improving sweet corn: genetics and management
Statement of Issues and Justification
Sweet corn is one of the most popular vegetables in the U.S. (Anon., 2001; Lucier and Lin, 2001) and its popularity is growing rapidly throughout the world (Anon., 1997; Lucier, 2000). In the U.S. diet, sweet corn makes up a particularly large share of the vegetables consumed by children, and is an important source of fiber, minerals, and certain vitamins (Goldman and Tracy, 1994). In the U.S. sweet corn for processing is grown on approximately 420,000 acres with an annual farm value of $210 million. A multiplier of eight gives an approximate added value for processing of $1.7 billion. As much as one quarter of this processed corn is exported. Approximately 250,000 acres are grown for the fresh market with a farm value of about $530 million. For many U.S. agricultural areas, sweet corn provides an important source of farm income. The vast majority of sweet corn seed for the worlds crop is produced in the U.S (Marshall and Tracy, 2002).The U.S. has long dominated the world sweet corn market, but U.S. leadership is being seriously challenged in both processed and fresh sweet corn (Anonymous, 1997). In one recent year, France exceeded the U.S. in exports of processed product. China, Thailand, and Brazil are all mounting challenges in processed sweet corn. Imports of fresh sweet corn into the U.S. from Mexico have skyrocketed and China is exporting fresh sweet corn to Japan (Marshall and Tracy, 2002). If sweet corn is to remain a viable crop in the U.S., critical challenges must be addressed.
To expand consumption in both the U.S. and the important export markets, food and nutritional quality of the product must be improved. Better flavor, greater tenderness, enhanced nutritional value, optimal health-promoting properties, and improved food safety are traits that this committee will focus on. To achieve some of these goals, new endosperm mutants will be used, but these mutants often have agronomic deficiencies such as poor germination, and low vigor (Azanza et al., 1996; Boyer and Shannon,1984; Parera et al., 1996). Coordinated research on seed physiology and its relation to quality is needed (Wilson and Mohan, 1998; Wilson et al., 1993).
Another critical challenge to the sweet corn industry is pest management to ensure consistently high field performance with a minimum of pesticide input (Pataky et al. 1988, 1990; Du Toit and Pataky, 1999). Consumers of sweet corn have little tolerance for pest damage. They are also concerned about pesticide residues and genetically engineered crop varieties (Lynch et al., 1999). The lucrative export markets have even higher demands (Jenni, 1994). Fortunately, sweet corn shares the same gene pool with the much more diverse field corn, and naturally occurring resistances for many pests can be identified and transferred from field corn to sweet corn (Marshall and Tracy, 2002). Since sweet corn expertise is widely scattered we need to coordinate research on identification, inheritance, and incorporation of pest resistance. Another important group of pests are weeds. This is an especially important problem to be addressed by this committee. Processors and growers are losing older herbicides and few new ones are being registered (OSullivan et al., 2002). This committee will coordinate the search for genes that increase the competitiveness of sweet corn so that lower rates and more effective herbicides can be used in sweet corn production systems. The committee will also coordinate trials designed to evaluate the effectiveness and optimal management of new herbicide chemistries on new sweet corn types and varieties.
To keep the sweet corn crop viable, coordination of research efforts is required because publicly-supported sweet corn researchers are widely scattered across the country. Seldom is there more than one individual working on sweet corn at a given location. Rarely is there a breeder at the same location as a physiologist or pathologist. Over the years it has been in existence, NE-124 greatly enhanced collaboration among State Agricultural Experiment Stations, including collaborations among many scientific disciplines and across the range from basic to applied research. Additionally, industry scientists have been intimately involved with the NE-124 project. Twenty to thirty industry scientists regularly attend and contribute to NE-124 meetings. The resulting synergism among the stations and between public and private sectors is becoming increasingly important, particularly in light of decreasing research budgets in both sectors.
Stakeholders include the vegetable seed industry and vegetable processors, two groups that meet regularly with this project. A third group of stakeholders are sweet corn growers. These growers are found in every state and range from small organic CSAs to large commercial vegetable producers. The ultimate stakeholders are sweet corn consumers, especially children, for whom sweet corn constitutes a significant portion of their vegetable consumption.
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