b'popping kettle. When breeders look to increase yieldArt or Science?components such as the number of rows on an ear, forWith its sometimes competing, specialized objectives,36 example, they know more rows on the ear shrink kernelwhat does it take to be a good popcorn breeder? size, which affects popping expansion.Plant breeders of all ilk are part scientist, part artist. Ainches Among plant breeders, popcorn has a notoriouscertain amount of technical expertise is needed for aHow high reputation for being prone to stalk lodging. Here again,plant breeder to plan and develop a breeding program.a popcorn there is an apparent inverse linkage between highConversely, science alone lacks the intuition that iskernel can expansion and stalk strength and lodging. A hybrid thatoften needed for a breeder to know which new crosspopstands perfectly and yields 800 lbs per acre with a 50xto keep and which to discard. Science alone cannot expansion ratio would be ideal, but every high-expan- predict which plants farmers will favor and which ones30 sion hybrid seems to have weak stalk strength or somethey will ignore simply because they just dont look other agronomic flaw. If it pops well and stands well butright. Is art or science more important for a successfulCalories in has a hard hull that gets stuck in peoples teeth, con- popcorn breeder? one cup of popped cornsumers will never buy that hybrid again. When WeedaYes, and yes, says Thada. There is a place for art suggests that a white hybrid has the best eating quali- while we are integrating more non-GM technologies into ties, many of his customers are not interested. In theour breeding pipeline. Bringing technologies into pop- 70% United States, only 10% of the popcorn is white. Socialcorn programs has lagged behind its use in dent corn. A perception and cultural traditions stand against whitelot of the research in the entire maize industry has beenAmount of popcorn popcorn, although it may be the best eating popcorn.with dent only because of the relatively small acreage ofAmericans eat In Europe and many other countries around the world,popcorn production. Over the past few years, we haveat homethe perception against white popcorn is so strong thatbeen basing our breeding decisions more and more it is not available on the market. on the use of data. Popcorn breeding can never be If my competitors and I each roll out one or twocompletely science-driven. There will always be a place13.5-new hybrids a year, there may be a total of 12 newfor art in the process. You have to look at a plant and hybrids trying to fill all the worlds niche markets,say these are favorable characteristics. Sometimes you14% Weeda says. It is quite different than field corn. Fieldcannot put your finger on what you need until you seeThe ideal corn breeders can justify tailoring a new hybrid to ait. From the science perspective, you have to be askingmoisture specific geographic area. We distribute our popcornthe right questions when you are out there in the fieldcontent for seed globally. Each hybrid has to be versatile enoughmaking pollinations and selections. That is all part ofpopping cornto handle the diversity found in several productionthe breeding program. I do not think you can do all that regions. It is a unique breeding challenge, especiallywith data alone. Even while we are experiencing more9,370 with todays tight budget challenges. use of science, there is a place for art. While the overall agronomic prioritiespoundsfor popcorn are similar to those for dentThe weight corn (stalk quality, yield, and diseaseof the worlds resistance), ear quality and kernel size,largest shape and color can become formidablepopcorn ball factors in the success of a hybrid. and was made We have seen improved agro- in 2016 in Sac nomic qualities over the years, includingCity, Iowa.improved expansion, but we most want high popping expansion so the popped flakes will fill up a lot of space, Thada135 psiexplains. The movie theater conces- The Internal sionaire, for example, wants to havepressure more expansion so a pound of corn willrequired to yield more bucket of popcorn to sell atpop a kernel the snack counter. Individually, mush- of popcorn.room kernels have good expansion. But when popped, mushroom corn is put into40-50xa movie patrons bucket, it packs more tightly, reducing the yield of filled contain- Popcorns ers. The round mushroom-style flakesusual expansion are best suited for caramel-coatedratiopopcorn.66/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2020'