TROPICAL DENT ®
Farmers expect stable and steady performance whatever the situation, the potential or the climate. Tropical Dent® maize ticks all these boxes. The range is based on Lidea Seeds genetics, obtained through sustained research and experimentation across Europe
Since the arrival in Europe of corn hybrids in the 1950s, the quality of seeds offered to farmers has been improving constantly. The average gain in yield over fifty years was more than 7.5 t/ha thanks to European flint and American dent genetics. Over ten years ago, Lidea sets up a strategy focused on research of new genetic pools of corn families in order to pursue the genetic progress curve. After extensive inventory work assisted by molecular marking tools, Lidea research team discovered an original source coming from tropical countries.
“Called Tropical Dent®, this family brings a very strong heterosis effect to our genetic, because it is very distant from usual lines” – explains Pierre Carolo, Director of our Corn Breeding Program.
“With our hybrids farmers can benefit from a clear step change in genetics, always with additional yield gains and consistent results in very varied soil and climate conditions, including in continental Europe.”
Overall, the Tropical Dent® hybrids tend more to resemble the European flint corns, with round, orange-colored grains, but the desiccation process is much faster at the end of the vegetation cycle, like the American dents. This new Tropical Dent® source is being introduced gradually to Euralis range by crossings with European flints to obtain early hybrids and with American dents to create late varieties.
Today most of the corn hybrids sold on the market come from the well-known American dent or European Flint genetic groups. A lack of diversity limits Heterosis potential. Lidea chose to invest in a worldwide inventory of the genetic material to discover still unexplored corn genetic sources, and as a result Tropical Dent® family was found. The advantages of the Tropical Dent® products are: yield, stability and drydown.
Improved yield results from the positive heterosis effect. Stability is insured by the wide testing network and statics meteo models, allowing the selection of the most suitable hybrids. And even if the Tropical Dents have the flint look, they ensure very quick drydown before harvesting.