Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

CAOOILL MAIZE RESEAFDI ACTIVITIES IN /ISlA
Tunya Kunta .11
Abstract
Cargill Seeds Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Cargill Co., Ltd, the world's largest grain
trading firm. Corn breeding research of Cargil Seeds Co., Ltd. in Asia has been carried out in
Thailand and Philippines since 1979. Cargill also has testing sites in India, Pakistan, Indonesia,
and Japan. the primary objective of Cargill maize research in Asia is to develop high
yielding corn hybrids mostly suitable to environmental conditions and farmer practices for the
whole Asian region. The existing inbreds have been developed by introgressing the elite germplasm
from around the world into the locally adapted germplasm. The resulting hybrids have been
tested over several years and environments before being released to the farmers. At present,
cargill commercial hybrids released in Asian countries are C-501 (Thailand, Pakistan, and
Indonesia), C-520 (Thailand, Bangladesh, and Philippines), C-633 (India), C-333 (Thailand and
Malaysia), C-777 (Thailand, and Pakistan), CPX-3905 (Philippines), C-744 (Thailand) and C-922
(Thail and).
Cargill Inc., USA's bigge~t private company (Fortune, July 13, 1992), was founded by
William W. Cargill in 1865 as a single grain-storage facility in rural Iowa. During the past 128
years the company has evolved into a world leader in the commodity marketing, transportation, and
processing industries. In 1993, the company employed 69,000 people in 47 business in over 55
countries.
Breeding research of Cargill Seeds, Ltd. in Asia has been carried out since 1979 in
Thailand and Philippines. Cargill Seeds Ltd. is a subsidiary of Car-gill Inc. At present,
Cargi 11 has two main research stations: Pitsanulok, Thai land and Koronadal, South Cotabato,
Philippines. Cargill also has testing sites in India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Japan. The
primary objective of the two main research stations is to develop corn hybrids that are suitable
to environmental conditions and farmer practices not only for Thailand and Philippines, but also
for the whole Asian region. Elite germplasm from around the world including tropical, subtropical,
and temperate zones has been introgressed into the locally adapted germplasm in Thailand and
Philippines. The products of the introgression are the adapted inbreds giving genetic constituents
of the elite germplasm around the world especially the subtropical germplasm. The adapted
inbreds with high combining ability are crossed with other promising inbreds to make new
hybrids. The resulting experimental hybrids are primarily tested over different environments in
Thailand and Philippines. The promising and precommercial hybrids are then tested over several
locations in Thailand, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Japan. These tests are
conducted at Cargill satellite stations and testing sites by Cargill researchers. The precommercial
hybrids have also been tested in Vietnam, China, and Malaysia via CIMMYT. Specific hybrids
that have been tested over locations and years and that have proved to be suitable to each
country are then registered and released to farmers. Cargill hybrids that have been released in
Asian countries and still in the market for 1993 are described below.
Cargill 777 main characteristics are: High yield potential (mean yield of 8.0 t/ha with
maximum of 10.6 t/ha), wide adaptation, long ear, excellent tip filling, good standability, high
shelling percentage, and easy to harvest. Cargill 744 and 922 are our latest releases for Asian
countries. Cargi 11 744 has high yield potential (si·mi lar to C-777), high level of disease
!! Crop Res. Manager, Cargill Seeds Ltd., 6-7th Floor Chokchai International Bldg., 690 Sukumvit
Rd., Bangkok 10110, Thailand.
242