Donald F. Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald F. Jones was a maize geneticist and practical corn breeder at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. Beginning at the station in 1914, he made high-yielding hybrid corn practical by his invention of the double-cross hybrid.

In Jones' method, four inbred corn lines are used. The seed from two initial crosses are used to grow up parental hybrids for the production fields. The production fields yield seed in sufficient quantity to make the scheme practical. Until Jones invented the double-cross method, the yield from the parent lines (the inbreds) was insufficient to allow practical production of hybrid corn seed.

Jones’ work received significant public attention and was used to make the first commercial hybrid corn in the 1920s.