The evolution of corn in North America, spanning about 1,000 years, will be part of a new exhibit at Ohio State University’s Farm Science Review, Sept. 16-18 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio.

From teosinte (pronounced teo-sin-tay), considered the ancestor of modern-day corn, to today’s genetically modified varieties, 16 corn cultivars will be showcased in demonstration plots at the entrance of Gate C, located on the east end of Friday Avenue within the FSR exhibit area.

Jonah Johnson, an Ohio State University Extension educator for Clark County who established the history of corn demonstration plots, said that the purpose of the Changing Faces of Corn exhibit is to educate visitors on how corn characteristics have changed over time and how crop performance has improved with advancements in technology.

“Just by seeing how each corn variety is performing in each plot, visitors will be able to get a sense of how much corn has changed over the years, and how fortunate we are that through science and technology, corn varieties have gotten so much better,” Johnson said. “Take yields, for example. This year, USDA is predicting an average corn yield of 160 bushels per acre in Ohio. Fifty years ago, farmers were lucky if they got 100 bushels per acre.”

The corn demonstration plots begin with teosinte, a grass found in Mexico and Central America that many believe played a major role in corn evolution because of its resemblance to the crop. Other corn cultivars showcased include Longfellow O.P. flint, an early type of open-pollinated corn; pod corn, whose seeds are individually wrapped in the husk, as opposed to the entire ear; Oh43, an Ohio-bred corn important in modern corn development; B73 and Mo17, hybrids popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s; today’s conventional non-traited hybrids; and a quad-stacked biotech cultivar.

Johnson said that visitors viewing the plots might see obvious differences among the cultivars, including plant color (some early varieties were purple and red); plant height (early varieties were much shorter than today’s hybrids); ear size (today’s corn hybrids produce ears twice the size of older cultivars); root development (earlier varieties had more shallow, smaller root systems); and crop performance.

“Science has afforded us cultivars that can resist insects and diseases and hold up better in adverse weather conditions, traits that are absent in earlier corn cultivars,” Johnson said. “Earlier varieties just don’t have those natural defenses.”

In addition to the corn demonstration plots, OSU Extension will also showcase herbicide and fungicide demonstration plots spotlighting different chemical application programs. The demonstration area is also located along Gate C of the FSR exhibit grounds.

The herbicide demonstration plot consists of 10 different programs, applied at three different times during the corn crop’s development. The idea, Johnson said, is to help farmers determine the best time to apply herbicides that not only optimizes performance, but also is the least expensive. The fungicide demonstration plots showcase the performance of Headline, Quadris, Stratego and Quilt against an untreated plot.

The Farm Science Review demonstration plot area wraps up with an exhibit of sentinel plots, a series of early-planted soybean plots designed to represent the first line of defense against crop insects and diseases, early detection and more effective production management.

In addition to the new demonstration plots, the popular Trotter field demonstrations will continue at this year’s event. Equipment dealers will show off new product and agricultural technology throughout the afternoon during all three days. Visitors can take the wagons from the exhibit area to the fields to see demonstrations of corn harvest, strip-till, GPS technology, manure application, variable rate technology lime application, tillage and soybean harvest. Check the FSR Web site for the demonstration schedule and more information.

Farm Science Review is sponsored by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State University Extension, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.