By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent OTTERBEIN, Ind. — Asgrow soybean variety AG3803 came out on top in a seed test conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) in West Central Indiana last month.
The variety, grown on the farm of Steve Gick in Benton County, yielded 77.7 bu./acre and grossed $854.70 per acre. The moisture level was 12.5 percent. The well-drained, no-till field had a silty clay loam and a .5 percent slope.
It had previously been planted with corn. On May 6, the site was planted with 210,000 seeds per acre and on Oct. 4, 193,000 plants per acre were harvested.
“The conditions at planting were just about ideal for a no-till situation,” said Rich Schleuning, F.I.R.S.T. manager of the site. “We caught a lot of good rains afterwards and had good emergence at the site.”
Schleuning said the Benton County site was only moderately affected by the Midwestern floods in the spring. “There were some pockets in the area that received a lot of heavy rains but we didn’t have much of the drowning,” he said.
When the weather turned dry in July and August, the site received a couple of well-timed rain showers when surrounding areas didn’t.
“We received ideal weather conditions and saw some good yields for this area,” Schleuning said. Despite some rain and wind damage in connection with Hurricane Ike, he described the stands as “excellent.”
Plant height was 38-40 inches and the field received applications of Roundup and Headline. Schleuning said there were no pest problems reported. Harvest conditions were good, although lodging slowed down the combine.
Kruger K-417RR/SCN was the runner-up hybrid in the test, yielding 76 bu./acre and generating a gross income of $835.80 per acre. Kruger’s K-363RR/SCN and K-384RR/SCN also placed in the top 10, yielding 70.1 and 69.9 bu./acre respectively. Crows C3916R came in third with a yield of 75.3 bu./acre and a gross income level of 828.80.
The results for the top 30 performers from the Gick farm are published in the chart at the right. |
