My, What Big Ears You Have!

ST. LOUIS (DTN) -- There's a new kind of corn around the corner.

On Dec. 4, USDA finalized its deregulation of MON 87403, Monsanto's new corn hybrid genetically engineered in collaboration with BASF to produce larger ears of corn.

Although the trait is still several years away from commercialization, its deregulation may herald a new era in crop biotechnology that looks beyond pest control, said Nathan Fields, the National Corn Growers Association's director of biotechnology and economic analysis.

"In the past, biotech traits have served the primary point of protecting the yield that base genetics create," Fields told DTN. "So this is a bit of game changer in that regard. It's a biotech trait aimed squarely at increasing yield."

MON 87403 was engineered to direct more resources in the corn plant to the ear as early as the R1 growth stage, according to USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) plant pest risk assessment. Company trials handed over to the agency showed an 11.7% increase in ear biomass at R1 as well as a 10% increase in "biomass partitioning" (the ratio of ear biomass to total biomass) in MON 87403 compared to control hybrids.

"Greater ear biomass during the early reproductive stages provides increased yield opportunity in maize," Monsanto told APHIS in its petition for deregulation.

The company hopes to combine the increased biomass trait with its herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant biotech traits in its elite corn hybrids, Monsanto Communications Manager Jeff Neu told DTN in an email. "It's part of Monsanto's efforts to partner with growers to produce more while consuming fewer resources," he wrote.

The trait moved through the often lengthy regulatory process with comparative ease, which put its deregulation further out from commercialization than is typical with biotech crops, Fields noted.

"The advantage that this trait does have is that it is not associated with any kind of pesticides or any kind of herbicide-tolerance, so there are no crop chemical counterparts to this trait," he said. "It made it through the USDA regulatory system in a very efficient timeframe because of those advantages, so Monsanto is still not fully through all of their R&D process."

The company "still needs to continue to go through our own meticulous portfolio process, demonstrating the performance results Monsanto and its customers demand," Neu confirmed. "There currently is no timetable for a launch."

Along with continued testing and field trials, the company will need to wait for full international regulatory approvals before it hits the market, Neu added.

For more information on MON 87403, see USDA's announcement of its deregulation and the public posting of the agency's various risk assessments here: http://1.usa.gov/…

Emily Unglesbee can be reached at emily.unglesbee@dtn.com

Follow Emily Unglesbee on Twitter @Emily_Unglesbee

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