HIGH-OIL HYBRIDS HERE

By TOM BUTTON

New high-oil hybrids are taking corn - known as the
world's near-perfect feed grain - a big step closer
to perfection by doubling the amount of high-energy
oil in every kernel.
High-oil hybrids are already on the market in the
U.S. They're under test in Ontario, where genetics
from DuPont and Pioneer are being used to produce
crops as high as 8.5 per cent oil, up from the 3.5
per cent of conventional hybrids.
As the high-oil trait branches out over the next
three years to include hybrids adapted to almost
all of North America's corn growing areas, they're
expected to become the varieties of choice for corn
growers who feed their own crops.
Not everyone is convinced. Des Moines-based Pioneer
scientist Dale Millis has doubts about high-oil's
future, even though he spends much of his time
developing the crop. "We all want something for
nothing," Millis says. "In this case we want free
energy - the same grain yield with higher oil
content - and I'm not sure there's anything magical
enough about high-oil to give us that something for
nothing."
Still, Pioneer is developing a series of pure,
straight single-cross high-oil hybrids ranging from
105 to 112-day maturities to hit the market
starting in 1997, with oil contents of at least 7.5
per cent. "We're keeping an open mind about it,"
Millis says. "If high-oil is going to make farmers
more profitable, we want to be there with the
hybrids for them."
DuPont has grabbed the market lead this year by
using a unique approach to corn production. Its
high-oil Top Cross seed is actually a blend of two
hybrids. The first is a standard, high-yielding
grain hybrid that has been modified to include a
gene that makes its pollen sterile, so the hybrid
can't fertilize itself.
The second hybrid, which makes up about eight per
cent of the seed in a bag, produces pollen with the
special high-oil trait. Any kernel fertilized by a
grain of that pollen will produce high oil, no
matter what hybrid the kernel is growing on.
Soren Raveling, DuPont sales specialist based in
Des Moines, says U.S. farmers planted 230,000 acres
of high-oil hybrids in 1995, mainly in the six Corn
Belt States.
Of that, 160,000 acres was planted by farmers who
wanted to feed the corn to their own livestock. For
1996, Raveling says farmers will plant 320,000
acres of high-oil for feed "from California all the
way through to Maryland."
Raveling says DuPont tests show farmers can raise
the extra oil for three to six cents per pound,
compared with costs as high as 20 cents for other
fat sources.
He expects high-oil acreage to explode as the
country's livestock giants complete more of their
in-house feeding trials, and start moving big acres
into high-oil production. Raveling predicts
high-oil will claim 15 million acres by the year
2005, about 20 per cent of the U.S. corn crop.
Raveling also predicts a big export demand from
countries looking for top quality,
identity-preserved feed. DuPont high-oil hybrids
were contracted to 800 farmers with 85,000 acres in
1995, with exports through Continental Grain and
farmers getting a premium of five to 10 cents per
bushel. High-oil is on track for 160,000 contract
acres in 1996, Raveling says.
DuPont doesn't sell seed directly to farmers.
Instead, it licenses the genes to seed companies,
who sell high-oil hybrids at a premium of US$20 to
US$30 per 80,000- kernel unit. 
Gordon Scheifele, corn scientist at Ridgetown
agriculture college and secretary of the Ontario
Corn Committee, planted two large-scale plots with
the DuPont genetics in 1995 to check the corn for
Ontario planting.
"It's real, it's here, and my expectation is that
it could be a definite advantage to anyone who is
feeding corn to dairy, beef, poultry or pigs,"
Scheifele says. "It needs more testing, but the
potential is definitely exciting."
Ontario companies are also testing the DuPont
genetics. "This is our second year," says Peter
Hannam, president of First Line Seeds. "Our tests
in the 3000-heat-unit area last year gave us 97 per
cent of the yield of standard hybrids, with double
the oil and even extra lysine. Now we have to see
whether it holds up year after year."
Hyland Seeds has also tested the DuPont lines, and
is looking into the potential for incorporating the
high-oil genes into high-yielding hybrids Hyland
has selected for adaptation to Ontario farms.
As with First Line, Hyland is keeping an eye on
economics. "We've been working with local hog
producers, and they've been very pleased with the
performance and quality of the high-oil corn,"
reports Don Littlejohns, Hyland manager. "The
question is cost. If it cuts yields by 10 per cent,
the extra oil will be too expensive." 

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