Presentation

The Maize Experimental Unit is a station dedicated to maize genetics. It is primarily concerned with the evaluation of plant material in the field, from sowing to harvest, and its interaction with the environment. Bringing together expertise in phenology, genetics, plant material description, phenotyping, maize cultivation and seed production, the unit's team has the opportunity to work on the full range of maize diversity grown in Europe as well as tropical maize thanks to its geographical and climatic location.

To illustrate the relevance of certain methodologies and tools used by the institute's research teams, the unit's teams are required to create original, conventional, or multi-purpose genetic material and to experiment with it on the site's 45 hectares.

Thanks to its geographical location and expertise, the unit is the only site in France responsible for varietal control expertise for maize progenitors for the seed industry, whether for late-maturing material for studies by the Variety and Seed Study and Control Group, or for all progenitors used in France by the seed and plant interprofessional organization.

Unit presentation brochure 

Challenges, Missions and Objectives

Produce, Save, Experiment, Expertise

The three missions of the Maize Experimental Unit:

- Safeguard, propagate, and distribute INRAE's maize lines, and create material for research. The unit serves as a Biological Resource Center (BRC) for INRAE's maize lines and also performs propagation for the population BRC based in Montpellier. For the needs of INRAE's research programs, almost all of the material is created in the EU.

- Experiment : The unit hosts research experiments as a partner in research programs or by providing services to UMRs. Since plant material for research is also created in St. Martin de Hinx, the EU prepares and ships seeds for INRAE's various French and European testing networks.

- Assessing maize varieties for catalog registration and seed certification. For this mission, the EU acts as a service provider to GEVES and SEMAE. For GEVES, this involves conducting DUS studies (late and medium-late repeats), VATE trials (G5 & G6 zones, WAXY, High Density, rich in Polyphenol), self-pollinations and crossbreeding to verify the stability of the material studied, as well as a high-oil test. For SEMAE, the EU is the reference site for the post-testing of basic and pre-basic seeds (judging varietal identity and purity). The Unit also maintains SEMAE's reference collection.

These missions also allow the unit to be known at the French and European levels within the maize sector and research.