By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Great Lakes and Channel seeds placed  in the top three spots in two southern Indiana corn tests, alternating first and third place. Stewart and LG Seeds took second in the two full-season tests.
The tests, on the farms of Allen Eilen and Ben Whiteside, were conducted by Farmers Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T).

On the Eilen farm in Columbus, Channel 214-14VT3P had the top yield with 158.9 bushels per acre, and a gross income per acre of $643.10. Stewart 7T630 was second with 152 bushels per acre, and gross income was $618.80. Great Lakes variety 6354G3VT3 was third, with an average yield of 150.3 bushels to the acre and a gross income of $615.50.

The soil was sandy clay, well-drained, with conventional fall tillage and the field was non-irrigated. On May 8, 34,000 seeds per acre were planted. The crop was harvested Sept. 16 with 33,700 plants per acre. The previous crop had been soybeans.

“This location had a great plant establishment,” said F.I.R.S.T Manager Rich Schleuning. “Heavy May rainfall caused flooding without impacting the stand. June, July and August provided very limited rainfall and high heat late.
“Ears were small with considerable tip-back. Plants looked good in spite (of this). Yields are variable but statistically valid; ideal for evaluating stress tolerance.”

Great Lakes 6576G3VT3 was in first place on the Whiteside farm in Grammer, with a yield of 223.4 bushels to the acre. The gross income per acre was $996.40.

LG Seeds LG 2549VT3 came in second; yield was 221.3 bushels to the acre, with a gross income of $997. Channel 216-63VT3 came in third with a yield of 220.5 bushels to the acre and gross income of $986.10.

The soil was well-drained clay loam and the field, non-irrigated. The corn was planted May 9 with 33,000 seeds per acre and harvest Oct. 4 yielded 30,800 plants per acre. Again, the previous crop was soybeans.

“Rainfall was ample early in the growing season, but dwindled to only 0.4 inches during July,” said Schleuning. “The crop received enough early season heat units to complete pollination prior to the extremely hot, dry conditions mid- to late season. These hot conditions led to deterioration of stalk quality at harvest.”