Is colored corn genetically modified? Agricultural experts: It is actually a hybrid variety
Colored corn has become a new favorite on the tables of Urumqi residents because of its good appearance and sweet taste. Recently, however, it has become caught up in some rumors about genetic modification. In response, agricultural experts say that colored corn is merely a hybrid variety and has nothing to do with genetic modification. On September 9, reporters visited Urumqi
Colored corn has become a new favorite on the tables of Urumqi residents because of its good appearance and sweet taste. Recently, however, it has become caught up in some rumors about genetic modification. In response, agricultural experts say that colored corn is merely a hybrid variety and has nothing to do with genetic modification.
On September 9, reporters visited the Old Beiyuanchun Vegetable Wholesale Market, Nanliangpo Farmers Market and some fruit shops in Urumqi and found that, in addition to ordinary pure white and pure yellow corn, there were also pink-yellow, purple-yellow and black-yellow colored corn and fruit corn.
In front of a vegetable shop on Nanchang Road, corn of various colors was laid out on wooden boards to attract customers. Depending on the color, prices varied: 5 for 5 yuan, 5 for 6 yuan, and 6 for 5 yuan.
The owner, Tu Jianjun, said that colored corn began to be sold in August, all of it sweeter than ordinary corn, and that he could sell two to three hundred ears a day.
Ma Suzhen, who was choosing white corn, said that she had heard that fruit corn and colored corn are genetically modified, and that she still felt safer eating the most ordinary white and yellow corn.
Jiang Lu, at the Old Beiyuanchun Vegetable Wholesale Market, has been wholesaling and selling fruit corn and colored corn for several years. She said that the colored corn and fruit corn sold at retail in the capital city market are all grown in places such as Anningqu, Xishan, Wujiaqu and Changji.
Regarding residents' concerns, Fang Bo, a senior agronomist at the Urumqi Agricultural Technology Extension Center, said that the colored corn, sweet corn and waxy corn on the capital city market are all naturally produced through conventional hybrid breeding.
Fang Bo explained that when planting colored corn, attention must be paid to hybridization. For example, plant 4 rows of white corn and 1 row of purple corn, or plant 3 rows of yellow corn and 1 row of pink corn, and the row spacing must be within the pollination range. With this arrangement, when the corn pollinates, the various colors of corn can begin to shed pollen onto one another, ultimately producing colored corn.
Ma Miao, a professor of botany at the School of Life Sciences of Shihezi University, said that the colored kernels of fresh-eating sweet waxy corn are the result of taking the plant genetic diversity that already exists in nature and, through natural selection and hybridization, inheriting and preserving the different expressed traits of the plants; the color is affected by their own carotenoids and anthocyanins.
It is understood that hybridization generally involves transfer between the same kind of crop and is a kind of gene recombination during the natural growth process of the crop. Genetic modification uses artificial technology to change a certain pair of genes in the original organism. After hybridization, the appearance and taste of the crop will change, while genetic modification shows no visible change in appearance.
On September 9, reporters visited the Old Beiyuanchun Vegetable Wholesale Market, Nanliangpo Farmers Market and some fruit shops in Urumqi and found that, in addition to ordinary pure white and pure yellow corn, there were also pink-yellow, purple-yellow and black-yellow colored corn and fruit corn.
In front of a vegetable shop on Nanchang Road, corn of various colors was laid out on wooden boards to attract customers. Depending on the color, prices varied: 5 for 5 yuan, 5 for 6 yuan, and 6 for 5 yuan.
The owner, Tu Jianjun, said that colored corn began to be sold in August, all of it sweeter than ordinary corn, and that he could sell two to three hundred ears a day.
Ma Suzhen, who was choosing white corn, said that she had heard that fruit corn and colored corn are genetically modified, and that she still felt safer eating the most ordinary white and yellow corn.
Jiang Lu, at the Old Beiyuanchun Vegetable Wholesale Market, has been wholesaling and selling fruit corn and colored corn for several years. She said that the colored corn and fruit corn sold at retail in the capital city market are all grown in places such as Anningqu, Xishan, Wujiaqu and Changji.
Regarding residents' concerns, Fang Bo, a senior agronomist at the Urumqi Agricultural Technology Extension Center, said that the colored corn, sweet corn and waxy corn on the capital city market are all naturally produced through conventional hybrid breeding.
Fang Bo explained that when planting colored corn, attention must be paid to hybridization. For example, plant 4 rows of white corn and 1 row of purple corn, or plant 3 rows of yellow corn and 1 row of pink corn, and the row spacing must be within the pollination range. With this arrangement, when the corn pollinates, the various colors of corn can begin to shed pollen onto one another, ultimately producing colored corn.
Ma Miao, a professor of botany at the School of Life Sciences of Shihezi University, said that the colored kernels of fresh-eating sweet waxy corn are the result of taking the plant genetic diversity that already exists in nature and, through natural selection and hybridization, inheriting and preserving the different expressed traits of the plants; the color is affected by their own carotenoids and anthocyanins.
It is understood that hybridization generally involves transfer between the same kind of crop and is a kind of gene recombination during the natural growth process of the crop. Genetic modification uses artificial technology to change a certain pair of genes in the original organism. After hybridization, the appearance and taste of the crop will change, while genetic modification shows no visible change in appearance.