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Post by raymondo on Feb 19, 2012 0:37:43 GMT -5
A friend gave me some corn she grew which looked like a red dent. She thought the variety was Red Aztec. Another friend was looking for some red corn to cross his sweet corn with to develop a red sweet corn so I passed the seeds on to him. His crossing plan didn't work because he planted only once and as it turned out both corns had very different flowering times. The red corn just pollinated itself. It must have already been crossed up because the result is the multi-coloured cob in the picture. He's offered me all the coloured cobs. This works out well for my plans with corn. The kernels, and the cob, are quite small though but it should still work. Attachments:
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 19, 2012 2:52:03 GMT -5
Very pretty. I'm loving those red aleurone colors....
So far I haven't found even one red aleurone kernel among the thousands of cobs of Astronomy Domine that I have examined while looking for one. There are plenty of red aleurones in my popcorn so if I want red aleurones I may have to breed them myself. I'm planning on making a shorter season popcorn, and if I pay attention a red aleurone sweet corn may arise from those crosses.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 19, 2012 4:43:56 GMT -5
Showing my ignorance here, but how do you know it's the aleurone that's red and not the pericarp?
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Post by blueadzuki on Feb 19, 2012 7:48:43 GMT -5
Red aleurone often looks different than red pericarp. Since red alurone is often a sort of supersaturated pink, the red shade is closer to a magenta (which is what I see on your cob) Whereas a red pericarp more often tends towards the more orangy to brownish shades. also, since pericarp is all maternal tissue, you tend to see changes in that all along the cob. It's not impossible to have a cob where one or two kernels display red pericarp and the rest of the cob looks like clear (my "Rainbow Zamia" showed that) but that tends to need a red gene that is being expressed rather weakly (or is actually a chinmark gene). With a reasonably strong one, you'll probably see at least SOME intergrades. The question I want to ask is, is the cob in the picture dried down all the way? I ask becuse you said that the corn your friend sent you was a dent, and what is in the picture looks like a flint (actually if the cobs and kernels are so small, it really looks like a popcorn) if it is a dent the kernels should have little dimples in the tops by now.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 19, 2012 11:10:16 GMT -5
Showing my ignorance here, but how do you know it's the aleurone that's red and not the pericarp? Pericarp is maternal tissue. So if the pericarp is colored the whole cob typically turns some shade of that color. Aleurone coloring comes from crossed tissue, and can be discerned by the patchwork nature of the kernel colors. I really need to learn more colors. What I learned in Kindergarten just isn't sufficient for me any more.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 19, 2012 15:36:19 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining the difference between pericarp and aleurone colour. I'll have to pay more attention to discussions on this board about corn colour! The question I want to ask is, is the cob in the picture dried down all the way? I ask becuse you said that the corn your friend sent you was a dent, and what is in the picture looks like a flint (actually if the cobs and kernels are so small, it really looks like a popcorn) if it is a dent the kernels should have little dimples in the tops by now. It hasn't dried down all the way yet. I haven't tried but it feels like you could puncture a kernel so I think there's a bit of a way to go. The chap who grew the corn isn't particularly careful about noting what he plants where. I gave him some kernels of another corn, given to me as ornamental Indian corn, to add to the mix. I don't know whether he planted it or not. If he did, it's entirely possible that this is from that corn. Either way, I'll be able to make use of it.
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