The People's Defender

COLUMBUS, OHIO (Special)-

When first generation seed of corn hybrids is planted the corn harvested is no better for seed than ordinary open pollinated corn. It may be poorer and seed used from the harvests in future years will be even less productive.

Recent tests by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station have definitely established that only the first generation seed of corn hybrids increases yield. Seed saved from a field of commercial hybrid corn will show a 10% to 25% decrease in yield the first year and increasing loss may be expected if seed is saved from this planting for the year after.

Only first generation seed of corn hybrids has the desirable characteristics that have dramatically increased the use of this seed by farmers in Ohio during the last six years. In 1933 only .03% of corn acreage in Ohio was planted with hybrids; last year 57% was hybrids.

First generation hybrids alone can be certified in Ohio. They must also be produced from foundation stock in combinations tested and proved by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and the U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry.

The seed is first generation when the pollen of one controlled cross fertilizes the seed of another. This control is accomplished by detasseling the stalks which produce the seed ears. The ears produced on the stalks used for pollen are produced from interpollination rather than cross-pollination and cannot be sold as hybrid seed.