As farmers start to make planting decisions for the coming year, many with an eye towards increased corn acreage to meet the demand for ethanol, seed companies are promoting varieties that have traits best suited for ethanol production.

Garst Seed Company has announced that 18 of their corn hybrids fall under the company’s ExtraEdgeTM designation, meaning they “exhibit grain characteristics especially suitable for dry grind ethanol production,” according to a company release.

Specific to ethanol production, ExtraEdge DGE hybrids have been tested and characterized using methodology established by the University of Illinois, which many in the industry consider the most accurate test since it mimics the dry grind ethanol process and measures actual ethanol creation.

Garst’s parent company, Syngenta, continues to research ways to increase the production efficiency of the dry grind ethanol process. This includes the development of a unique proprietary corn amylase output trait that expresses higher levels of the enzyme amylase, which can increase the efficiency of ethanol production.