Self-Fertilization in Selective Breeding of Corn

[gracy]

can self-pollination /self-fertilization be present in selective breeding?Have a look on this video from time 10.00 to 12.00 it seems self-fertilization occurs in corn in selective breeding process.And it make sense as corn bears bisexual flowers self-fertilization can occur.But what i am confused about will it be called as selective-breeding if it involves self-fertilization?

 

[mfb]

You still select what you want to reproduce, so I guess you can call it selective breeding.

 

[jim mcnamara]

That is why male sterile corn is used in selective breeding. Self pollination defeats selective breeding - especially the creation of hybrids, a kind of selective breeding.

Suppose you have corn varieties A and B. When these hybridize, the offspring have lots of superior traits.
The field is plant with 1 row of A, 1 row of B right next to A. The whole field is rows of A,B. If B provides only the pollen and A does not make pollen then all of the seeds on the A plants will be hybrids. The B corn kernels are used for animal feed.

The old approach was to use either a crew of workers or a detassling machine to go out and whack off the tassles on all of the A plants. If A is male sterile, it cannot produce viable pollen, so no machines or people needed.