The Development of Plant Breeding The Development of Plant Breeding

196 Pages·2009·7.64 MB·English

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The Development
of Plant Breeding
at Minnesota
In the cover photograph a University of Minnesota agronomist
and student pollinate corn in early hybridization work at the Southern
School and Experiment Station, Waseca, about 1920.
Copyright © 2009, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108
Website: www.agronomy.cfans.umn.edu
All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced in whole
or in part without written permission of the Department of
Agronomy and Plant Genetics.
The book text was set in 10/12 Souvenir and the book was formatted
and printed by Allegra Print and Imaging, Arden Hills, Minnesota, USA
The Development
of Plant Breeding
at Minnesota
by Herbert K. Hayes
Edited by Ronald L. Phillips
Foreword by A. Forrest Troyer

Editor’s Notes

F
ollowing his retirement as chief of the Divi-
sion of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota in
1952, H.K. Hayes compiled a record and observations of the division’s re-
search through his tenure, and that of the successor Department of Agron-
omy and Plant Genetics over about the next 10 years. His manuscript was
never published.
Why would a manuscript written in the 1960s and covering the previous
50-60 years be published at this time? Many “lessons learned” examples
in this previously undiscovered manuscript could be applied today. The
intensity of plant-breeding studies in this one department, Agronomy and
Plant Genetics, often in concert with the Department of Plant Pathology,
seems incredible even by today’s standards. Judging from the future
accomplishments of the many graduates of the program — the Who’s Who
of plant breeding — the intensity and value of the work must have been
palpable in everyday studies at that time.
The leadership of the department believed deeply in the power of
genetics; consequently, many of the graduate theses defined the inheritance
of a variety of traits under study, often disease resistance. The effect of
stem rust race l5B was devastating at that time and had to be overcome;
lives depended on a solution. Interestingly, 70 years later we face a similar
challenge with the raging Ug99 stem rust strain that Norman Borlaug realized
could potentially attack nearly all wheat varieties in the world. Having such
a summary of individual theses as presented in this book is indeed fortunate;
many important facts buried in the papers and theses Hayes reviewed might
well be overlooked today.
The application of mathematics and statistics, cytology and cytogenetics,
and crop physiology were all recognized as important sciences. Amazing to
me was that a cytology lab was set up in 1917 in the Division of Agronomy.
ii
Discussion and debate served an essential part in making advances in
this new field of scientific plant breeding. Often it appeared that the faculty
and students went beyond debating both sides of a question by inventing a
seemingly third side of the argument. Hayes reportedly said that, “If two
people always think alike, then one is not needed”. Respect for differing
opinions seemed to reign. Several of the early faculty had been graduates
of the program, something frowned upon today. Hybrid corn was new and
students had to be convinced of its value; they could not believe that crossing
two small-eared corn inbreds would give rise to superior types.
The plant-breeding faculty worked on many different species, including
corn, wheat, barley, oats, soybeans, flax, sugarbeets, and forage crops such
as alfalfa, Kentucky bluegrass, orchard grass, brome grass, fescue, sweet
clover, crimson clover, white clover, sunflower, and wheat grass.
H.K. Hayes, an early faculty member (joining the faculty on January 1,
1915) who later became department head until 1952, obviously knew what
was going on in his Division of Agronomy (later Division of Agronomy and
Farm Management, and later Division of Agronomy, Farm Management,
and Plant Breeding). Hayes became the chief of the Division of Agronomy
and Plant Genetics in 1928. The Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics was the name assigned after Hayes’ retirement. Hayes understood
the science of all of the research programs. In this manuscript, he discusses
meiotic irregularities, races of pathogens, independent assortment and
linkage of genes, parthenogenetic development of seed, apomixis, ecology,
protein, oil, and other topics.
Hayes fostered collaborative research as exemplified in the interactions
with the sister Department of Plant Pathology led by E.C. Stakman. He
contributed significantly to international agriculture by teaching at the
University of Chile as part of the Cornell program. He went to China back
when it was a major effort to travel.
One could argue that H.K. Hayes exerted the most influence on the
field of plant breeding of any faculty member, before or after his presence
at the University of Minnesota. lmmer’s statistical knowledge was helpful in
placing plant breeding on a scientific base; his formula for linkage analysis
was used extensively. And, of course, the textbooks by Hayes and Immer
and Hayes, Immer, and Smith were important in teaching plant breeding
around the world. Powers also offered statistical methods for interpreting
the segregation of quantitatively inherited traits.
Many techniques were utilized to measure traits of interest. Pericarp
puncture tests in sweet corn were used to score tenderness of the kernels.
Several cytological analyses were used, such as micronuclei as a measure
of meiotic instability in wheat, detection of aneuploids in forages and corn
chromosome knobs. Burnham used chromosome translocation studies
iii
to develop his proposed Oenothera method of producing inbred lines of
corn. Other techniques included cold tests, corn borer resistance and smut
resistance measurements, and sucrose content determinations in sugarbeets.
It is amazing how one University could so dominate the field by its own
work and the later work of its graduates. Many of the students have been
honored by receiving the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement
Award, the highest award given by the University to an alumnus.
This book provides a snapshot of the historical traditions of the University
of Minnesota Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. For a more
comprehensive history of the department, please see the book “Agronomy
and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota” published in 2000 by the
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (Minnesota Report 247-2000).
In the concluding chapter of this book, Hayes states, “I have been
impressed, in these contacts, with the enthusiasm of many staff members
dedicated to furthering knowledge in biological and agricultural sciences, and
the application of this knowledge to the improvement of living conditions
and the welfare of people engaged primarily in agriculture. At nearly all
institutions there have been numerous foreign students, and their dedication
to their chosen fields has been an inspiration. These are the main reasons
why, in spite of many undesirable interrelations reported vividly in the daily
press, it seems the chances are very good for eventual cooperation between
the emerging nations of the world and older nations and the eventual
evolution of the 'One World Idea,' where there is opportunity for all.”
Ronald L. Phillips, Editor
Chair Hayes Memorial Lecture
and Graduate Student Award Committee since 1973
Editorial assistance of Jean Swanson and Ginger Walker in preparation of the text and Lee
Hardman and Harlan Stoehr in the publication phase is gratefully acknowledged. Their sincere
interest in the project serves as another example of the pride we all have in the University of
Minnesota, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics.

Foreword
H
erbert Kendall Hayes, Ph.D., was a learned
plant-breeding scholar and teacher. He was associated with the Agronomy
and Plant Genetics Department of the University of Minnesota for more
than 40 years while it became the world’s center for plant-breeding research
and training. He followed and had similar responsibilities and talents as Prof.
Willett Hays, the father of American scientific plant breeding, who first iden-
tified the individual plant as the unit of selection (J. Hered. 94:435-441).
Dr. Hayes made plant breeding more scientific as senior author of a trilogy
on plant breeding methods that was translated into several languages and
widely used for four decades. Dr. Hayes was responsible for 146 profes-
sional papers and reports. He was the preeminent teacher of genetics and
plant breeding. During his tenure from 1915 to 1952, 225 graduate stu-
dents completed advanced degrees from agronomy and plant genetics. He
was advisor for 67 M.S. and 66 Ph.D. graduate degrees. Nine of his former
graduate students became president of the American Society of Agronomy
from 1939 to 1973.
Herbert Kendall Hayes was born (March 11, 1884) and raised on a
corn and tobacco farm near Granby, Connecticut. He received the B.S.
degree from Massachusetts State College at Amherst in 1908. His studies
included genetics and a plant breeding courses. He received the M.S. degree
in 1911 and the D.Sc. degree in 1921 from Harvard University under the
guidance of Dr. Edward Murray East. He was appointed Special Agent,
Tobacco Investigations USDA, in 1908; Assistant Agronomist, Connecticut
AES in 1909; and Plant Breeder, Connecticut AES in 1911. He became
Associate Professor of Plant Breeding at the University of Minnesota in
1915. He was Collaborator, Division of Cereal Investigations, USDA, from
1916 to 1931. He was promoted to Professor in 1918 and was made Chief
of the Agronomy and Plant Genetics Division in 1928, a position he held
until his retirement in 1952.