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DeKalb, IL | Unfortunately, the concept that the cob is 20% of the ear weight remains valid only in the 'trade' of ear corn. Hybrid advancements since that original work was done have produced a much higher grain percentage than those old double-cross hybrids of the post WWII era. Some years ago, I studied many of the most widely-grown hybrids in the Midwest. None had more than 12% cob contribution to ear weight, some were as low as 8 or 9%.
Even more unfortunately, the company for which I worked at that time had a strictly enforced 'no-publication' policy. University research personnel are under pressures to find something 'new' to publish, not to examine correlated changes that breeding practices have brought. So, we don't have a literature source to stimulate changing the 'official' market standards, even if they might no longer apply. | |
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Ear Corn
