Modesto, California
February 7, 2000
New varieties are good but not always the answer. Sometimes tweaking an older variety is all
that's needed. Take the case of supersweet seeds.
As its name implies, it is a sweet variety. But among sweet corn varieties, the seed of
supersweet has always tended to be smaller, more shriveled and more wrinkled than ordinary
sweet corn seed.
With very little endosperm, the supersweet seed is virtually a hollow skin with an embryo
inside. It tends to have lower seedling vigor and be more susceptible to plant disease that
attacks the emerging seed.
Customer demand high
Despite its shortcomings, customer demand for the sweeter tasting corn pushed growers to
overcome their resistance to plant the seed. And over the years, it has become a popular type.
Then in the fall of 1998, Harris Moran Seed Company began hearing reports about the
plantability of shriveled supersweet.
Enter Tim Kunkel, senior product manager for processing vegetables. He recognized the
problem, assembled a team to investigate the problem, and went about trying to tackle the
problem.
Rally the troops
First he enlisted Keith Kubik, seed physiologist for Harris Moran. Hethen pulled in Todd Zehr
and Sue Wilson of Sub-Sahara International,
Inc., Sugar Land, TX. Sub-Sahara International
is a film coat polymer company.
"We had to develop and test an affordable product in a short time," says Kubik. "It needed to
be production friendly, visually attractive and most important, increase the planbability of
shriveled supersweet seed."
Seed coating the answer
Wilson and Zehr developed a special seed coating polymer designed to double the weight of
the original seed. Kubik made small production runs and lab germination tests. More testing
was done at Harris Moran's Nampa, Idaho facility by Lavern Hanssen. Finally, Kunkel did
planter box testing and arranged field tests.
Data collected from grower fields showed fewer doubles and triples and more uniform spacing
for the coated seed. Based on these positive labs, Harris Moran coated 20,000 pounds of
seed.
End result: satisfied customers
Customer feedback with the test seed was immediate. "A large New York sweet corn grower
commented that Harris Moran sweet corn coat was a big improvement over current products,"
says Bill Rankin, account manager for Harris Moran.
"This was a very rewarding project," says Kubik. "Product development does not always
work so smoothly. We had a good team of dedicated people. When dedicated people with
diverse ideas get together with a common goal, good things usually happen."
Though the coating is still in the development stages, the future looks good. Look for this new
and improved coating product later this year.
Company news release
N2538 |
