Baseline information on agricultural practices in the EU ... - Europabio

New applications are tested against existing ‘standard’ varieties. A quick replacement of standard
varieties allows farmers to always use the most advanced material, but leaves little room for new
registrations. Slower renewal of the standards will permit varieties that are not always an improvement
compared to the currently used varieties.
Usually 2 to 3 years of testing are needed on several locations representing the main maize growing
areas. Varieties are evaluated according to earliness groups. In testing forage maize performance
characters are measured such as germination, early vigour, the silking date, i.e. average date of
female flowering, plant height, the starch content, the metabolisable energy or cell wall digestibility
and the dry matter content. The latter should be at least 25% to prevent effluent losses in the silo, the
optimum is between 30 and 35%. Yield is expressed as total dry matter per hectare. Also
observations for lodging and stalk rot are done.
For grain maize obviously the total grain yield is important, earliness, and again the yield securing
characteristics, i.e. the sensitivity to lodging and stalk rot. The range of dry matter content at harvest
should be between 60 and 73% dry matter in the grains. Thousand kernel weight is measured and
disease and pest resistance is also observed (e.g. Bundessortenamt), especially in regions with a
high disease and pest pressure.
Next to testing for silage or grain maize it is also possible to test for organic maize or energy maize in
e.g. Belgium (Van Waes, 2009 14 ). The German Bundessortenamt does not mention energy types
separately but includes them in the middle-late to late maturing types. In the Netherlands
Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving (PPO) publishes variety lists for energy maize emphasizing the
importance of methane yield per hectare.
The first Dutch hybrid registered was Goudster, a flint x dent hybrid, in 1952, although it should be
considered as a top-cross variety rather than a hybrid (Barrière et al., 2006). The registration of LG11
in 1970, in France was one of the first three-way cross hybrids. It was highly recommended for
ensiling as it could be planted at high densities. The first German hybrid maize varieties were
registered and released in 1960. Hybrid breeding programs were started in Central Europe in the
1950s. The first hybrids were made between European flint types and US dent lines. These two
distinct pools continue to make up most of the genetic basis for maize hybrids in Europe. The flintdent
hybrids are grown throughout North and Central Europe; in contrast to Southern Europe and the
US, where dent-dent hybrids are prevalent.
Maize varieties are divided in maturity classes, depending on the number of days required for
achieving a harvestable crop. This has usually been defined by a so-called FAO-number, a lower
number meaning earlier ripening. In areas with only a short warm season (e.g. Central Europe), only
varieties with an FAO-number of up to 400 are used, as others would need a longer growth period to
reach maturity than is possible before temperatures fall again in the autumn.
14 Van Waes J. (2009) Maize variety testing for registration on a national catalogue and the impact of
new technologies. Maydica 54: 139-153.
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