When the tassel is fully emerged from the upper leaf sheath, pollen-shed will begin, usually from the middle of the central spike of the tassel and then spreading out over the whole tassel. Pollen grains are produced in anthers which open up under appropriate weather conditions. Pollen, which is only viable for 18-24 hours, is very light and can be carried considerable distances by the wind. Pollen shed from the tassel usually begins 2-3 days before silk emergence and can continue for several days thereafter, but will stop when the tassel is too wet or too dry.
The silks are covered with fine, sticky hairs that catch and anchor pollen grains. Within minutes after landing on the silks, the pollen grain germinates and a pollen tube grows down the silk to fertilize the ovule or potential kernel. This usually takes 12 to 28 hours. Under good conditions, all silks will emerge and be ready for pollination within 3 to 5 days. Unfavourable environmental conditions during pollination can have a great impact on grain yield. Since there is usually more than enough pollen (a given tassel can produce up to 5 million pollen grains), problems generally occur when there is poor synchronization between silk emergence and pollen shedding.
Corn with its separate male and female flowering parts is a naturally cross-pollinating plant. This means that ovules can be pollinated by pollen from neighbouring plants. Therefore, care must be taken in a breeding program to ensure that pollen from the appropriate tassel fertilizes ovules on the appropriate ear. This is usually achieved by hand-pollinating. As soon as ear shoots are visible in the leaf axils of a plant, a small paper ‘shoot-bag’ is placed over the shoots; this allows the ear to continue growing and the silks to emerge but prevents any pollen from falling on the silks (Fig.2).