Corn Growers' Association, 



135 



hard, firm product. A remedy for this lies in the reduction of 

 the oil content of the corn which is fed. Thus here we have a 

 very important practical object for breeding corn for decrease of 

 oil content. 



These special purposes mentioned for which corn is being im- 

 proved suggest the possibility of many others demanded by the 

 various industries which utilize the corn crop and which require 

 different qualities in it. 



■# f # ^^ 



CORN BREEDING FOR HIGH AND LOW PROTFtN 



This Serifs Of Sp«imens fiepfescnts Tht f^fess W The WorK Of Tlw Illinois Eipmmcnt StatlM In Uu Brertlni! W 



Corn for THe INCREASE And DECREASE Of PROTEIN CONTENT Tfireajli Ten Cnwrolions 



In fact) Corie Is Refiwme^ '; ' ^ ■" Corr Of Ifie Crap Produced 



TlieBotte' /5-eScArri)ii!"il T, . . i- _ 



Bepresen'eif Sid' By Si't fr f.-iiipon'on 



. "rit-.i SrseJ'ns Plo'.s Of fjch Seas 



Figure 5. 



The average composition of ordinary corn is shown in figure 

 4, where are represented the diff'erent constituents and their rela- 

 tive amounts in one bushel of the grain. 



It is possible by selection of the seed and breeding to alter 

 the proportions of these various constituents, and following are 

 indicated briefly some of the results which have been obtained in 

 breeding corn to change its composition. 



The effect of breeding for increase and decrease of protein 

 content is illustrated in figure 5. In this case we have our quan- 

 tities based upon one-tenth bushel and in the large bottle there 

 is one-tenth bushel of corn. The amount of protein in this quan- 

 tity of corn is so represented that we may compare the high pro- 

 tein crop with the low protein crop of each generation. Begin- 

 ning on the left with the crop of 1896, and following it along 

 through the ten generations, we find comparatively little difference 

 in the first two or three years. It seems to require a few years 

 to get under good headway but as we follow along the series we 

 find that the difference between the high and the low gradually 

 increases until after ten generations the high strain contains al- 

 most double the amount of protein as the low strain. 



