Post by oxbowfarm on Apr 4, 2014 8:27:34 GMT -5
So, I've recently been gifted a large sample of composite Corioco. From initially knowing nothing about this race of corn, I've become fascinated and excited about its potential.
I'm now committed to reshaping my flour corn project to include the interesting qualities of Coroico. The multi-layer aleurone creates a higher protein composition with much better lysine content. That is a great quality to bring into my corn. With an added bonus that it is already showing red chinmark pericarp which I am breeding for as well.
My flour corn is primarily based on Tuscarora/Cherokee White flour corn. I love this family of flour corns, being well adapted to my climate and very productive. My desire has been to create a red chinmark version of Tuscarora/Cherokee. My new revised goal is to somehow create a red chinmark flour corn with multiple aleurone layered endosperm and presumably higher protein/lysine content.
The question is, how do you actively select for thickened aleurone? The heredity of multiple aleurone layers are complex. I assume I'm going to have to be sampling a lot of kernels and looking at the aleurone.
My idea is after getting some Coroico/(Tuscarora/Cherokee/Supai) F2 or F3 material, I should start looking for multiple aleurone kernels. Then selfing as many plants from such kernels as I can find with multiple layers to try and increase the frequency? Using the selfed corn as pollen parents over detassled rows of the rest of the population to start increasing the trait in the corn altogether, similar to what DarJones described in ones of the sugary enhanced selection threads( I searched quickly just now but couldn't find the one I was looking for).
I wonder what traits the old Peruvians were selecting for that led to the prevalence of the thickened aleurone? Presumably they were not using microscopes, unless you ascribe to the ancient alien astronaut theory (which I do not). I assume that there are some other phenotypic trait that the aleurone mutation is closely linked to, and by selecting heavily for this, the aleurone thickening rode along in the bargain. Knowing what that trait was would make selecting for aleurone layering much simpler.
This may be pie in the sky. But I definitely intend to make the crosses. Whether I have the time and energy to do the aleurone selection is a realistic question. But it will be fun to have some Andean genetics in my flour corn, even if the nutritional quality improvements are too complex for my lifestyle.
I'm now committed to reshaping my flour corn project to include the interesting qualities of Coroico. The multi-layer aleurone creates a higher protein composition with much better lysine content. That is a great quality to bring into my corn. With an added bonus that it is already showing red chinmark pericarp which I am breeding for as well.
My flour corn is primarily based on Tuscarora/Cherokee White flour corn. I love this family of flour corns, being well adapted to my climate and very productive. My desire has been to create a red chinmark version of Tuscarora/Cherokee. My new revised goal is to somehow create a red chinmark flour corn with multiple aleurone layered endosperm and presumably higher protein/lysine content.
The question is, how do you actively select for thickened aleurone? The heredity of multiple aleurone layers are complex. I assume I'm going to have to be sampling a lot of kernels and looking at the aleurone.
My idea is after getting some Coroico/(Tuscarora/Cherokee/Supai) F2 or F3 material, I should start looking for multiple aleurone kernels. Then selfing as many plants from such kernels as I can find with multiple layers to try and increase the frequency? Using the selfed corn as pollen parents over detassled rows of the rest of the population to start increasing the trait in the corn altogether, similar to what DarJones described in ones of the sugary enhanced selection threads( I searched quickly just now but couldn't find the one I was looking for).
I wonder what traits the old Peruvians were selecting for that led to the prevalence of the thickened aleurone? Presumably they were not using microscopes, unless you ascribe to the ancient alien astronaut theory (which I do not). I assume that there are some other phenotypic trait that the aleurone mutation is closely linked to, and by selecting heavily for this, the aleurone thickening rode along in the bargain. Knowing what that trait was would make selecting for aleurone layering much simpler.
This may be pie in the sky. But I definitely intend to make the crosses. Whether I have the time and energy to do the aleurone selection is a realistic question. But it will be fun to have some Andean genetics in my flour corn, even if the nutritional quality improvements are too complex for my lifestyle.