Publication Date

5-29-2012

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Dr. Elmer Gray, Director, Dr. Martin J. Stone, Dr. William T. Willian

Degree Program

Department of Agriculture

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

Baby corn (Zea mays L.) consists of unfertilized young ears harvested at silk
emergence. The 2011 study was a culmination of four successive years of production
and evaluation of baby corn at Western Kentucky University (36.93 N, 86.47 W). The
objective was to compare the effect of tassel removal on baby corn (BC) production on
four cultivars of corn, two field (‘N77P-3000GT’, ‘N68B-3000GT’) and two sweet
(‘Silver Queen’, ‘Peaches N Cream’). Results indicated that tassel removal gave
significant increases (P<0.01) of BC ears across harvests (H) and cultivars; however, the effect was not consistent over treatments. For harvests, the difference due to detasseling was significant (P<0.05) for H2 and H3, but not significant (P>0.05) for H1 or H4. For cultivars, numerical values were higher for detasseled than non-detasseled treatments in the first three harvests for each cultivar, but significant (P<0.05) only for ‘Peaches n’ Cream’. Quality of BC from both tassel treatments decreased in H3 and H4. Based upon the increased number of ears resulting from detasseling, additional labor costs would be more than covered. Baby corn has excellent potential as a niche crop for producers and consumers in Central Kentucky.

Disciplines

Agriculture

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