Skip to content
Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization,
representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers.
Search
Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine

OCC corn hybrid DON/GER evaluations

Principal Investigator: Ontario Corn Committee

Research Institution: Ontario Corn Committee

Timeline: January 2024 to December 2024

Objectives:

  • Identify appropriate reliable field screening methods for determining corn hybrid susceptibility to Gibberella ear rot (GER) and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation and assess DON susceptibility of commercially relevant corn hybrids.
  • Provide assessments of the susceptibility of commercial corn hybrids to GER and DON for farmers.

Impacts:

  • Established reliable field screening of corn lines for resistance to GER and DON accumulation.
  • Provided growers with reliable GER/DON resistance ratings for commercial corn hybrids.

Scientific Summary:

Corn seed companies submitted commercially relevant corn hybrids to the Ontario Corn Committee (OCC) to be evaluated by expert researcher teams for susceptibility to deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin accumulation. The corn hybrids were assessed for Gibberella ear rot (GER)/DON levels across two irrigated, inoculated nursery field sites (Ridgetown and Huron Research Stations). The trials followed the agreed upon OCC protocols developed by the OCC members and researchers.

Hybrid rankings of susceptibility to DON can be found online at https://corn.gocrops.ca.

External Funding Partners:

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (through GFO project C2023ID15 and OMAFRA SCAP 2023-017A).

Various corn seed companies

Various corn end users