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PERSPECTIVES

Background and Importance of Troyer Reid Corn

^a Dep. of Crop Sci., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
^b Gardenville, Nevada

^* Corresponding author (atroyer{at}uiuc.edu)

	ABSTRACT

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 
Corn (Zea mays L.) history and American westward expansion were intertwined when several hundred newer, better adapted, open-pollinated corn varieties were developed by human and natural selection. Chester E. Troyer was a pioneer corn breeder who bred ‘Troyer Reid’, an improved ‘Reid Yellow Dent’ variety. We relate how Chester got to the particular Indiana farm whose pervious, river-bottom soil affected natural selection. Better, deeper rooting probably helped Troyer Reid obtain more nutrients and water. Chester's formative years were spent as a teacher, and his later achievements included being honored four times as Corn King of the World and also as a successful corn breeder of productive corn varieties and proprietary hybrids. He was first to produce and sell hybrid seed corn in Indiana in 1925, received the Purdue University Certificate of Distinction and was a successful seed corn businessman and employer, successful gladiolus (Gladiolus x gandavensis Van Houtte) breeder of award winning varieties, successful banker, and beloved civic philanthropist. Troyer Reid accounts for about 15% of the background of documented U.S. Corn Belt hybrid corn through inbreds developed by Purdue University, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, University of Minnesota, and Iowa State University corn breeders.

	INTRODUCTION

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 
THE STORY OF TROYER REID takes place on a 3-km stretch along the south Wabash County line where it crosses the Mississinnewa River Valley near LaFontaine, IN. This was the home of Chester E. Troyer, and was the headquarters for his Blue Ribbon Brand Seed Corn Co. (Fig. 1 ). The senior author is Chester's nephew, and Lorrene is a neighbor and a friend of the Troyer families.

View larger version (186K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Chester E. Troyer homestead with the seed house in the foreground, ca. 1940. Chester is standing in the center.

After the Panic of 1893, which was caused by the diminished supply of U.S. gold and by the adoption of the Sherman Silver Act (later repealed) (Kindleberger, 1989), David shipped a railroad car of onions to Pittsburgh and received a wire from the broker stating the freight cost more than he could obtain for the onions. David's return wire offered to send more onions, but the broker declined. David then sold his three 16.2-ha (40-acre) parcels to his younger, half-brother Jim. Northwestern Ohio, once known as the black swamp, was the last part of Ohio to be settled. The soil in Putman County is heavy, black, and the terrain is nearly level. Any spare time from farming was spent installing more drain tile. David claimed that after selling his parcels, he put a tiling spade on his shoulder and walked westward until people asked him what that funny looking shovel was for, and then he bought land. Actually he was next-to-youngest of 10 brothers, two of whom had previously settled in Grant County immediately south of Wabash County, IN. He had previously visited the area (Troyer, 1974). Nevertheless, the Mississinnewa River Valley bottom is made up of a Genesee, sandy loam, soil type; drain tile are not needed. The subsoil is pervious to water.

The eastern half of the farm lies on the west bank of the Mississinnewa River, where, according to local lore, the first alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) field in Wabash County grew. The soil is fine loamy, mixed, very deep, well-drained, moderately permeable, bottomland soil. The bottom fields next to the river were not fenced; the river usually backed over them in late winter or very early spring during the thaw. The second bottoms were about 2 m higher and fenced for livestock, and sand-point pipes driven down about 5 m formed wells to water livestock. Elevation of the farm is about 243 m, and the slope ranges from 0 to 2%. Mean annual air temperature is 12°C (53°F), mean annual precipitation is 89 cm, and maximum daylength is 15.1 h.

David bought farms in Grant County in 1899 and east across the river in 1902. The farm across the river was originally owned by Indian Marshall, who was the son of Meshingomesia, a Miami Chief from 1839 to 1879, the son of Metosinia. Jocinah Creek joins the Mississinnewa River just south of the former Troyer Bridge (Fig. 2 ). This was the location of Metosinia's Village of Miami Indians. The tribe grew corn in fields near the river. The land was subdivided to members of the tribe in 1873 as a thank you for adhering to the Greenville Treaty of 1795 and for not joining Tecumseh and the British against the USA during the War of 1812 (Crow, 1995; Register of Deeds, Wabash Co.).

View larger version (180K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Troyer Bridge across the Mississinnewa River built during the Spanish American War and removed for the Mississinnewa Reservoir.

The Troyer odyssey was part of American westward expansion. Corn was moving west with the settlers, who took seed along for planting as the U.S. Corn Belt moved north and west from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia in 1838 to Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri in 1878. Montgomery estimated 800 newer, earlier, more drought-tolerant corn landraces were developed by human and natural selection during this period (Montgomery, 1916; Troyer, 1931). Reid Yellow Dent resulted from a lucky cross in a poor stand of ‘Gordon Hopkins’ southern dent with a replant of ‘Little Yellow’ northern flint in 1847 (Wallace and Brown, 1988; Troyer, 1999, 2004). More than 50 yr of natural and human selection by Robert and his son James Reid followed (Shamel, 1907). The Reids had moved from southern Ohio near Russellville to western, north-central Illinois near Delavan. They brought along the late Gordon Hopkins variety and obtained the early Little Yellow variety locally.

	1900

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David obtained Reid Yellow Dent corn prior to 1900, probably at a corn show. Reid was the most popular of the corn varieties developed during American westward expansion, winning the international corn show at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, and later called World's Fair Corn. It was later recommended for growing in 21 states (Jenkins, 1936). At harvest, David carefully removed husks, silks, and leaves that could be used to build rodent nests, hoping to reduce damage during storage. Trash removals helped the corn dry faster in the fall and germinate better in the spring. Neighbors noticed David's good stands and asked to buy seed corn. His son Chester used a Barlow knife to extract kernels from each ear to check that it hadn't frozen. David (Fig. 3 ) developed a small, local, seed corn business.

View larger version (178K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 3. David Troyer detasseling an inferior corn plant, ca. 1905.

	1920

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 
Chester became the consummate corn showman—he was competitive. He was four times Corn King of the World, winning the grand champion 10-ear sample four times at the International Grain and Livestock Show in Chicago. (Fig. 4 ). He won with Northern Grown Johnson County White in 1920, with Troyer Reid in 1927 and 1932, and was the first to win with hybrid corn in 1939. Chester selected beautiful ears of corn. Ears of corn differed to him as faces of people differ to most people. Chester and his brother Alvah were partners through 1932. Alvah played an important part in selecting the 1932 grand champion 10-ear sample, which has been described as one of the very best ever (Fig. 5 ).

View larger version (155K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Chester Troyer, "Corn King of the World" 1920.

View larger version (121K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Grand Champion 10-ear sample of Troyer Reid at the International Grain and Livestock Show in Chicago 1932. "One of the very best."

Chester and Newt Halterman formed the Troyer and Halterman partnership of Rushville in 1937. Chester built two similar hybrid seed corn processing plants—one at his home and one still standing at Julian and 2nd Street in Rushville (Farm World, 2002). They were constructed in three levels; gravity was used to sort the corn. The corn was dried with heated, forced air. Shelled corn was sorted to 0.4 mm (1/64 inch) accuracy by width and by length.

Typically, five employees operated the seed house. Two operated the corn picker and brought wagon loads of ear corn to the seed house. One operated the furnace and directed heated air to the proper drier bins. Two others shelled, sorted, and bagged the seed. Temporary help hand sorted ears as needed. These buildings were early prototypes for the seed corn industry and were described and pictured in a Purdue University Circular (Beeson, 1937).

	1940

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The Troyer seed corn business helped the town of LaFontaine. It employed three full time farm hands, who were technically competent seed technicians, 10 or 12 farmer–seed producers, 50+ commissioned farmer–salesmen, and about 80 high school and college student detasslers for the busiest 3-wk period. The hybrid line-up was usually 20 hybrids divided about equally among early, medium, and late maturities. Chester's hybrids were evaluated in a cooperative hybrid testing program including seven or more other Indiana Hybrid Growers companies. He sold both private and public inbred and single-cross foundation seed to other seed producers and double cross hybrid seed to local farmers. Chester sold 20000 25.4-kg units (bushels) of seed corn a year in the 1940s, which he believed to be optimum size for one-man management. His seed corn business grossed about $200 thousand annually. Hybrid Troyer L11 attained the all-time highest grain yield in the Illinois Commercial Corn Tests (Leng and Finley, 1956). The tests ran 28 yr from 1934 through 1961 (Dungan, 1935; Leng and Ross, 1962).

	GLADIOLI

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Chester and Cleo grew and bred gladioli (Troyer, 1974). Cleo was the driving force. She provided fresh cut flowers daily for a Peru, IN, florist and for special events. She also sold gladiolus corms. Their breeding method was to grow the varieties they particularly liked in close proximity and to let the birds, insects, and winds do the crossing. Newer varieties come from seeds. They would grow out many thousands of seedlings from best-loved varieties in a river bottom field and select the more vigorous and more beautiful plants to dig up for overwinter storage, and grow again. After 2 or 3 yr, the best plants would be moved to the gladiolus patch next to their home for further selection.

After the field detasseling and nursery pollination work ended, the gladiolus workers continued working. During the flowering season, gladiolus were cut in the early morning, carried by arm-loads to the corm cellar and placed in water to await the midmorning arrival of the florist from Peru. Two or three workers might ride with Chester, each holding a single gladiolus stalk that he was entering in a gladiolus show in Wabash. Many medals in the library museum indicate winning entries. In the autumn, workers dug the gladiolus corms, peeling away the outside layers of leaves from each corm to insure they were healthy, removing diseased corms. Healthy corms were placed into 61-cm² trays with a screen bottom, dusted with a sulfur compound to kill disease and insects, placed in a rack in the corm cellar, and left to dry.

Gladiolus corms are asexual and breed true. New varieties were increased in the river bottom field and sold. Chester and Cleo began showing gladioli in 1938. Chester was president of the Indiana Glad Society in 1940. They received the 1941 American Home Achievement Medal for the outstanding gladioli origination, ‘Betty J. Schol.’ They got out of the glad business after the river flooded and rotted the corms.

	1960

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 
The last corn crop Chester and Cleo were responsible for was harvested in 1967. The federal government took title to the rich farmland in 1968 to make way for the Mississinnewa Reservoir. The reservoir is best known locally for frantic, adrenalin-producing, late-night phone calls recruiting sand-bagging crews during heavy rains. David Troyer's 1894 prognosis that the valley's subsoil was permeable and wouldn't need tiling also meant that the subsoil was permeable and would make a "damn poor dam site."

	TROYER REID

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 
Troyer Bros. (1916) described improving the original Reid Yellow Dent by breeding, selection, and introduction of a few choice ears from the most promising sources—probably other improved Reids. Troyer Reid Variety became popular at corn shows; it was recommended for growing in Indiana in the 1936 USDA Yearbook (Jenkins, 1936). Troyer Bros. (1916) catalogue described it as follows.

Ears are large nearly cylindrical in shape, from 23 to 28 cm long, 18 to 20 cm in circumference weighing 429 to 471 g when thoroughly dry. Exceptionally well-filled butts make the ears easy to husk. Kernels are large, deep and broad of uniform size; color is bright, shiny, medium yellow. Cobs are small in diameter. Stalks are strong with medium ear height. It has broader and deeper grain, larger and more uniform ears, and slightly rougher indentation than Reid Yellow Dent.

Troyer Reid was developed on subirrigated, river-bottom fields where natural selection would favor better, deeper rooting (Darwin, 1859, 1868). It was the source of Duddleston's 461 (Troyer 9-1) selected at Purdue University as "poor land" corn that better utilized scarce phosphorous and potash elements (Wallace, 1925; Crabb, 1948). Henry A. Wallace (corn breeder; later, U.S. vice-president and cabinet member) visited Purdue and left with S2 (self-pollinated twice for inbred development) seed of 461. He increased it and gave seed to Raymond Baker, a college student at Iowa State, to make experimental hybrids in 1926. One of these hybrids (Hi-Bred B1) won the 1927 Banner Trophy of the Iowa Corn Yield Tests for the highest yielding entry in the Southern District and also in the entire state of Iowa. Wallace hired Baker to do corn breeding for the Hi-Bred (now Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a Du Pont Co.) seed corn company in 1928. Baker continued selection in 461 to develop inbred B164 (B for Baker, 164 for 461 reversed). Wallace traded inbred B164 and Purdue Yellow Dent (Duddleston 461) to Dr. H.K. Hayes for Minnesota inbreds C11 and C14 in 1930. These three inbreds made up hybrids Pioneer 355 and Minhybrid 301. They were first distributed in 1934 and became popular in Minnesota and Iowa (Jenkins, 1936; R.F. Baker, personal communication, 1992; Troyer, 1999).

Troyer Reid is the parent variety of three public inbreds (461-3, B164, and TR) and probably two more (B2 and FE) developed by Ben Duddleston and sorted out later by Ralph St. John at Purdue. Corn inbred B2 is named for the Butler farm near Indianapolis; Mr. Butler bought seed from Chester the fall before Purdue collected seed from Mr. Butler to inbreed (Chester Troyer, personal communication, 1960). Inbred FE tolerates iron uptake, a rare trait also present in inbreds 461-3 and TR. Inbred TR became the male of Hoosier Hybrid, which was the first Purdue developed corn hybrid distributed in 1932 (Jenkins, 1936). These inbreds are described in some detail at USDA Corn Improvement Conferences in 1937 and 1938 (Proceedings at Iowa State Agronomy Department). About 30 public corn inbreds with Troyer Reid in their background were developed at the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and USDA Agricultural Experiment Stations (Table 1; Jim Gerdes, 1990, personal communication; Gerdes et al., 1993; Troyer, 1999).

Troyer Reid is a major background of U.S. hybrid corn (Smith et al., 1990). The main contributor is Raymond Baker's inbred B164 (Troyer, 1999) from Duddleston's 461 (Crabb, 1948). He used B164 as a parent of Modern Iodent Inbreds at Johnston, IA, in 1942. The senior author crossed two of Baker's Modern Iodent Inbreds with inbred B164 in their backgrounds to an early single-cross involving a B164 derivative inbred (A556) at Mankato, MN, in 1958. This germplasm was then selected by the Rinke Method (Rinke and Sentz, 1961) to develop Early Iodent Inbreds. At the time, I knew these materials had excellent performance, but knew little of their background. These events total 12% (Fig. 1; See Fig. 3 in Troyer, 1999; Fig. 1 in Troyer, 2004). Another Troyer Reid contributor is Stiff Stalk Synthetic (Russell et al., 1971; Hallauer et al., 1983; Troyer, 2004): Iowa inbreds B14, B37, and B73 total 5% times 30% equals 2%. Iowa inbreds B14A, B64, and B68 total 3% times 30% equals 1% for a grand total of 15% (Fig. 1).

This Troyer Reid percentage background is based on the background of 33 elite most used Pioneer Hi-Bred proprietary inbreds (Smith et al., 1990). Their study represents their complete corn hybrid product line of more than 100 hybrids for the U.S. and Canadian growing area. The elite inbreds range from 85 to 120 d relative maturity. The study covers additional inbreds in their commercial hybrids that were sister lines to the 33 elite inbreds through pedigree relationships. Pedigree background frequencies indicate how often particular ancestors are represented among a group of descendent inbreds. Ancestor founder background percent is the average contribution across the 33 elite inbreds in the study for that ancestor (Troyer, 1999, 2004). Older ancestors have survived longer and are potentially more inclusive.

Dr. H.K. Hayes (1963), noted plant breeder and author, states: "This company [Pioneer Hi-Bred International] has maintained an outstanding research program from the beginning [1926], in addition to very satisfactory testing, breeding, and producing programs, and the sale of adapted hybrids." Therefore, the Smith et al. (1990) study represents the cumulative effect of 65 yr of consistent selection for higher yielding, better standing, and faster drying hybrids based on careful analysis of several million yield test plots at thousands of test locations during that period. The elite inbreds are the result of 12 or more cycles of cumulative selection (Richey, 1945). Smith et al. (1990) found more than 30 founder ancestors that were varieties, inbreds, and hybrids with an average of about 11 genetic markers each. In 1990 they had 34% and increasing share of market according to the Pioneer Annual Report (Pioneer Hi-Bred International, 1990).

The U.S. Corn Belt physical geography and climate is a giant mixing bowl of corn germplasm where natural selection and human selection have occurred. All U.S. seed corn companies started with the same public inbreds in the 1920s and 1930s. Pioneer background includes varieties, hybrids, and inbreds available to other companies (Smith et al., 1990). A delayed release policy for new public inbreds benefited state seed certification programs from the mid 1930s until the early 1960s. DeKalb AgResearch, Funk Bros., and Pioneer Hi-Bred countered with an exchange of useful inbreds in the early 1940s. In addition, public and private corn breeders self-pollinated superior competitors' popular commercial hybrids to learn their background and to develop newer, better adapted inbreds.

The MBS 2002 Genetic Handbook of currently available inbreds lists Pioneer brand hybrids (including inbred LH123 from Pioneer brand hybrid 3535) as the source of 157 inbreds (Brayton, 2002; Troyer, 2004). Gouache (2004) digs deeper and wider in the same handbook, going back through more breeding cycles and more companies to find many more inbreds with competitor's hybrids in their background. He estimates >30% of the corn hybrids sold in the spring of 2004 in the U.S. Midwest have a competitor's hybrid in their background. Good hybrids have rich heritages—they are made, not born. This informal, industry-wide recurrent selection has been very effective for increasing yield.

The background by Smith et al. (1990) probably represents the entire U.S. seed corn industry averaged as a group because many companies used Pioneer Hi-Bred popular hybrids for breeding with similar goals in the same environment. The background founders had persisted 65 yr in 1990 and continue in 2005. It's been 115 yr since American westward expansion and 75 yr since hybrids were first distributed. Barring major environmental or cultural practice change, the background will not change much in the future (Troyer, 2006). Many successful corn breeders use elite inbreds or popular hybrids as parents of inbreeding starts, thus maintaining the background founders (Troyer, 1990, 1996; Brayton, 2002).

Smith et al.'s (1990) study has broad application; it is the big picture of U.S. hybrid corn's background resulting from all events previous to the most recent sampling. It is more inclusive, more stable across time, and more understandable than snap shots, with inherent sampling problems, comparing selected hybrids in particular time frames.

What is the evidence for Troyer Reid and for Duddleston 461 having better, deeper roots? Wallace (1925) emphasized the ability to obtain scarce phosphorous and potassium elements. He states: Duddleston 461 grew strongly even on artificially starved soils. In addition, Troyer Reid, Duddleston 461, or derivatives were 50% of the highest yielding entry (Hi-Bred B1) in the 1927 Iowa Corn Yield Test, 30% of popular Stiff Stalk in Iowa in the 1930s (Troyer, 2004), and the ancestor of several closely related inbreds in popular hybrids during a 45-yr period in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa (A.F. Troyer, personal experience). The previous three events emphasize the ability to obtain subsoil moisture important to higher corn yields. Troyer Reid persisted to become the parent variety of >30 public inbreds including very popular B164 and TR (Table 1; Jones, 1942). More than 20 yr of human selection for higher corn yield in subirrigated, river-bottom fields probably favored better, deeper rooting of plants, causing Troyer Reid's popularity and persistence (Darwin, 1859, 1868).

Chester developed 39 private corn inbreds used in producing hybrids. He wrote in part: "As a result of 37 years devoted to corn breeding, I now am using five inbreds developed by myself. These inbreds have been developed to improve the yield, quality, and standing ability of the hybrids that I am selling. They have enabled me to produce hybrids for my customers that are better than they can buy elsewhere" (Troyer, 1958). He worked out schemes to develop several inbreds at the same time. He sped their development by growing winter crops in Mexico in the 1930s and then later near Weslaco, TX. When he closed business, he negotiated the sale of his inventory of private inbreds and foundation seed to the Purdue Ag Alumni Association with the provision that the inbreds would be available in small quantities to all interested parties 2 yr later (Indianapolis Star, 1970). The provision was important to Chester because he saw the inbreds as being useful to mankind (Table 2).

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Table 2. Source of Chester E. Troyer inbreds, ca. 1965.

	AFTER THE FLOOD

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

View larger version (95K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Troyer Memorial Library at La Fontaine, Indiana.

	THE REUNION

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

In 1975, Uncle Chester had a serious operation followed by a poor prognosis. He sent word that he wanted to see me. He was bedridden and very weak. Chester died at 89 yr of age along with millions of corn plants on the night of the first killing frost, 17 Sept. 1975.

Chester and Cleo helped keep LaFontaine going and growing with the Troyer Memorial Library and with donations for the Community Center and for remodeling the Christian Church. They participated in virtually all civic events. The Troyer Blue Ribbon Seed Co. was an economic asset to the town and to the surrounding community—it provided jobs and high corn yields. And it will be remembered for the Troyer Reid variety that presently accounts for about 15% of the background of U.S. hybrid corn through corn inbreds developed initially by Purdue University, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, University of Minnesota, and Iowa State University corn breeders (Fig. 7 ; Smith et al., 1990; Troyer, 1999, 2004).

View larger version (34K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Pie graph showing the background of documented U.S. hybrid corn (Smith et al., 1990). Troyer Reid totals about 15%.

	ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Received for publication October 12, 2005.

	REFERENCES

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1900 1920 1940 GLADIOLI 1960 TROYER REID AFTER THE FLOOD THE REUNION REFERENCES

 

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