US-12616124-B2 - Plants and seeds of corn variety CV972960

Abstract

According to the disclosure, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV972960. The disclosure thus relates to the plants, seeds, and tissue cultures of the variety CV972960, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV972960 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The disclosure further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV972960 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The disclosure further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV972960.

Inventors

• Scott A. Bergemann
• MARK J. BRINKMAN
• Todd E. Frank
• Zachary King
• Wade E. Odland
• Nathaniel J. Page

Assignees

• MONSANTO TECHNOLOGY LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231227

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A plant of corn variety CV972960, wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV972960 have been deposited under NCMA Accession No. 202306055.
2. 2 . A plant part of the plant of claim 1 , wherein the plant part comprises a cell of the plant.
3. 3 . The plant part of claim 2 , further defined as pollen, an ovule, or a cell.
4. 4 . A plant part of the plant of claim 1 , wherein the plant part comprises a seed of corn variety CV972960.
5. 5 . A seed of corn variety CV972960, further comprising a transgene, wherein said transgene was introduced into corn variety CV972960 by backcrossing or genetic transformation, and wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV972960 have been deposited under NCMA Accession No. 202306055.
6. 6 . A composition comprising the seed of claim 4 comprised in plant seed growth media.
7. 7 . The composition of claim 6 , wherein the plant seed growth media is soil or a synthetic cultivation medium.
8. 8 . An F 1 hybrid seed produced by crossing the plant according to claim 1 with a second, distinct corn plant.
9. 9 . An F 1 hybrid seed produced by growing a plant from the seed of claim 5 and crossing said plant with a second, distinct corn plant.
10. 10 . An F 1 hybrid plant grown from the seed of claim 8 .
11. 11 . A plant of corn variety CV972960 further comprising a single locus conversion, wherein representative seeds of corn variety CV972960 have been deposited under NCMA Accession No. 202306055, and wherein said plant otherwise comprises all the morphological and physiological characteristics of corn variety CV972960.
12. 12 . The plant of claim 11 , wherein the single locus conversion comprises a transgene.
13. 13 . A seed that produces the plant of claim 11 .
14. 14 . The seed of claim 13 , wherein the single locus conversion comprises a nucleic acid sequence that enables site-specific genetic recombination or confers a trait selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect or pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, abiotic stress resistance, altered seed amino acid composition, and modified carbohydrate metabolism.
15. 15 . The seed of claim 14 , wherein said single locus conversion that confers herbicide tolerance confers tolerance to benzonitrile herbicides, cyclohexanedione herbicides, imidazolinone herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase-inhibiting herbicides, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, bromoxynil, dicamba, glufosinate, glyphosate, nicosulfuron, or quizalofop-p-ethyl.
16. 16 . A method of producing a progeny corn plant derived from corn variety CV972960, said method comprising applying plant breeding techniques to the plant of claim 1 or an F 1 hybrid thereof to yield said progeny corn plant.
17. 17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said plant breeding techniques comprise backcrossing, marker assisted breeding, genomic selection, pedigree breeding, selfing, outcrossing, haploid production, doubled haploid production, or transformation.
18. 18 . The method of claim 16 , further defined as comprising: (a) crossing the plant of corn variety CV972960 or an F 1 hybrid thereof with itself or a different plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (b) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from the seed of the progeny plant of a subsequent generation; and (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) with sufficient inbreeding to produce an inbred corn plant derived from corn variety CV972960.
19. 19 . A method of producing a commodity plant product, said method comprising obtaining the plant of claim 10 to produce said commodity plant product therefrom.
20. 20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein said commodity plant product is grain, starch, seed oil, corn syrup, or protein.

Description

BACKGROUND Field The present disclosure relates to the field of corn breeding. In particular, the disclosure relates to corn seed and plants of the variety designated CV972960, and derivatives and tissue cultures thereof. Description The goal of field crop breeding is to combine various desirable traits in a single variety/hybrid. Such desirable traits include greater yield, better stalks, better roots, resistance to insecticides, herbicides, pests, and disease, tolerance to heat and drought, reduced time to crop maturity, better agronomic quality, higher nutritional value, and uniformity in germination times, stand establishment, growth rate, maturity, and fruit size. Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination. There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from a flower on a different plant. Corn plants (Zea mays L.) can be bred by both self-pollination and cross-pollination. Both types of pollination involve the corn plant's flowers. Corn has separate male and female flowers on the same plant, located on the tassel and the ear, respectively. Natural pollination occurs in corn when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of the ear shoot. Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type over many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous plant. A cross between two such homozygous plants produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that are heterozygous for many gene loci. Conversely, a cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of loci produces a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and are not uniform. The resulting non-uniformity makes performance unpredictable. The development of uniform corn plant hybrids requires the development of homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection are examples of breeding methods used to develop inbred plants from breeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the genetic backgrounds from two or more inbred plants or various other broad-based sources into breeding pools from which new inbred plants are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred plants and the hybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential. North American farmers plant tens of millions of acres of corn and there are extensive national and international commercial corn breeding programs. A continuing goal of these corn breeding programs is to develop corn hybrids that are based on stable inbred plants and have one or more desirable characteristics. To accomplish this goal, the corn breeder must select and develop superior inbred parental plants. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a corn plant of the variety designated CV972960. Also provided are corn plants having all the morphological and physiological characteristics of the inbred corn variety CV972960. The inbred corn plant may further comprise, or have, a cytoplasmic or nuclear factor that may confer male sterility or otherwise preventing self-pollination, such as by self-incompatibility. Parts of the corn plant of the present disclosure are also provided, for example, pollen obtained from an inbred plant and an ovule of the inbred plant. The disclosure also concerns seed of the inbred corn variety CV972960. The inbred corn seed may be provided as an essentially homogeneous population of inbred corn seed of the variety designated CV972960. Essentially homogeneous populations of inbred seed are generally free from substantial numbers of other seed. Therefore, in the practice of the present disclosure, inbred seed forms at least about 97% of the total seed. The population of inbred corn seed may be particularly defined as being essentially free from hybrid seed. The inbred seed population may be separately grown to provide an essentially homogeneous population of inbred corn plants designated CV972960. In a further aspect, a composition is provided comprising a seed of corn variety CV972960 comprised in plant seed growth media. In certain embodiments, the plant seed growth media is a soil or synthetic cultivation medium. In specific embodiments, the growth medium may be comprised in a container or may, for example, be soil in a field. In another aspect, a plant of corn variety CV972960 comprising an added heritable trait is provided. The heritable trait may comprise a genetic locus that is a dominant or recessive allele. In one embodiment, a plant of corn variety CV972960 further comprising a single locus conversion is provided. In specific embodiments, an added genetic locus confers one or more traits such a