Inor Ag. Assmann
72
Embrapa Corn and Sorghum recom-
mends the farmers pay heed to the type of
seeds, if they wish to reap good crops. For
a crop to become more competitive and
profitable, aspects relative to the charac-
teristics of the cultivar should be taken
into consideration, like the productive po-
tential, stability, resistance to diseases and
adjustment to the production system in
place and edaphoclimatic conditions. Re-
searcher Israel Alexandre Pereira Filho in-
sists that, recently, corn cultivations in Bra-
zil have been making strides in productivity.
In the past growing seasons, the corn
crops achieved new average productivity
levels, in the past only achieved by devel-
oped countries, with high technology agri-
culture. “Now, frequently farmers harvest
up to 12 tons per hectare. The credit of
the higher performance per area goes to
the technological strides provided by the
development of cultivars with superior ge-
netics, where new technologies come in,
like Bt corn, available services and infor-
mation, and even the level of profession-
alism achieved by the farmers”, he argues.
According to the scientist, the intro-
duction of management practices that
provide for higher levels of responses
and cultivar safety, now available in the
market, thanks to seed producing com-
panies, are an assurance for the farmers
for a high performance of their grains.
For the 2015/16 growing season, Embra-
pa Corn and Sorghum officials have listed
477 corn cultivars provided by the seed
companies, of which 284 are transgenic
and 193, conventional. Compared to the
amount of seeds available in the market
in the previous year, there was a reduc-
tion of only one cultivar.
A specialist in the development of sus-
T he first step
Availability of hybrid and transgenic seed in the national market
attests to the importance of this technology for the cornfields
tainable agricultural systems, Pereira Filho
insists that the seed is the main input in a
field and, therefore, the correct selection
of the technology to be used deserves to
be carefully decided by the farmer. “The
selection of each cultivar should meet the
specific needs, as there is no superior cul-
tivar capable of meeting all the regional
conditions”, he says. “As superior cultivars
do not exist, not even for a defined loca-
tion, it is important to use a set of cultivars,
so as to maximize the chances for success.”
Embrapa Corn and
Sorghum points to
the existence of 477
varieties in the market
