Iowa Farmer Today

Even though the drought in Eastern Iowa and Illinois has reduced yields this year, the future effects of dry conditions could be limited.

University and seed industry researchers are busy working to find a combination of traits in corn that could minimize yield losses during dry periods.

"Without question, the No. 1 limiting factor of production worldwide is water," says Marlin Bergman, a corn researcher at Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.

Despite decades of research to produce a drought-resistant hybrid, it has not been developed. However, researchers are using various tools to understand what genes in corn control.

David Lightfoot, a biotechnologist at Southern Illinois University, has developed a hybrid that is more drought tolerant than others.

Lightfoot's hybrid is inserted with a gene from a soil microorganism. The corn will yield roughly 10 percent more than hybrids without the gene under drought conditions.

The drought-tolerant hybrid will yield about the same as other corn in wet years.

THE HYBRID is also resistant to Liberty herbicide, Lightfoot says.

"It was a bit of a surprise," he says about finding the gene.

Lightfoot discovered the drought response while he and fellow researchers were looking for ways to improve corn usage of nitrogen.

However, they discovered the gene helps the plant retain moisture.

The gene causes the plant to delay its reaction to dry conditions, Lightfoot explains. However, it responds faster to moisture.

The hybrid could be on the market in three to five years. Lightfoot says two companies are bidding to license the biotech hybrid.

He says the hybrid is more drought tolerant than drought resistant.

The benefit of the gene in the hybrid likely will moderate the effect of dry spells during the growing season.

Overall, a hybrid that could survive dry conditions would benefit farmers everywhere, Lightfoot says.

Farmers in dry areas throughout the world would likely benefit from the biotechnology. That makes biotechnology look good, he says.

Seed companies, such as Pioneer, Monsanto and Syngenta, are trying to develop a drought-resistant hybrid.

Bergman says Pioneer has been working for years on improving yields during drought. The company's research centers in California, Colorado and Kansas are studying drought effects.

"In 2004, we had ideal conditions. We had zero measurable precipitation (at the California location)," he says.

Bergman says some the drought research has looked at flowering stress, the genes and their relationship to pollination.

"We have beefed up on drought," he says.

Bergman compares previous research to the shotgun approach. Efforts now are closer to hunting with a rifle.

"This is not a single trait," he says about finding drought resistance.

DROUGHT IS more complicated in the biotech process than developing a trait to control insects and/or diseases, Bergman notes.

The likely way researchers will develop a drought-resistant hybrid is by using different tools: marking native corn genes at the molecular level, biotechnology and gene shuffling.

Gene shuffling is a process similar to shuffling a deck of cards and can be effective if a gene's expression is enhanced or diminished.

Ben Kampelman with Monsanto says his company's work on a drought-tolerant corn is still relatively early in research and development.

He says the company hopes to have something in farmers' fields within 10 years.

Kevin Turnblad, Syngenta's head of corn production, says, "We are very actively pursuing drought resistance and have been for some time."

It will be 5 to 15 years before such a trait makes it way to the marketplace.

The regulatory process to bring such a trait to the marketplace takes years, researchers noted.