Multiple ears per node: Iowa 2006 situation and hypothesis
Date
2014-12-11
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Integrated Crop Management News
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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
Abstract
Corn hybrids from several companies have developed more than one ear at a single node across Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana this year. Multiple ears are not unexpected but they typically occur at different nodes, not on the same node. This trait has been expressed in different ways in Iowa. In the most extreme cases, up to eight ears have occurred at a single node. Some have called this expression, 'bouquets' or 'banana trees' (Photo 1). In cases where there are numerous ears, each is usually barren. In one case, a field with bouquet ears yielded 50 bu/acre. In other locations, only two ear shoots are visible at a node; we'll call these 'double ears'. Often one of the double ears is smaller, consisting of a few short husks surrounding a tiny cob with silks (Photo 2a). The other ear appears to be full size and not hampered by the double ear. The smaller of the double ears occasionally sets some grain (Photo 2b). A susceptible hybrid may show bouquet ears in one location and double ears at another site.
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