2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experiment material and planting
Supersweet corn seeds (F1 hybrid with sh2), cv. Supersweet 17,
were used in these studies. The hybrid seeds were produced by
synchronous hand cross-pollination of the parental inbreds in the field at the experimental farm of Zhejiang University using production practices common for the region.
2.2. Seed harvest
Normally, it takes 30–40 days for supersweet corn seeds to
fully mature but seed germination is possible 14 days after
pollination (Cao et al., 2008b). Supersweet corn ears were
harvested at different developmental stages from 14 to 42 days(at an interval of 4 days) after pollination (DAP). At each harvest,10 plants were randomly chosen and the first ear from the top of the plant was harvested by hand. Seeds from the middle part of supersweet corn ears were threshed by hand and bulked for further tests