By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

WARREN, Ill. — Despite challenging growing conditions, the yields were good at a soybean hybrid test plot along the Illinois-Iowa border.

The test was conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) on the Jo Daviss County, Ill. farm belonging to the Harbach Family Partnership.

F.I.R.S.T. manager Jason Beyers said the site suffered from too much water.

“Field conditions were extremely wet for most of the early growing season, and beans were under a lot of stress,” he reported. “Then in August, the conditions turned dry. The beans were all short. The tallest being only about 30-inches tall.”

Asgrow hybrid DKB27-52 earned the top score at this location with an average yield of 60.4 bushels per acre. The hybrid had an estimated gross income of $754.50, and its moisture level was at 15.7 percent. The test field had a Tama silty loam soil with a 1 percent slope.

The site was moderately drained. The previous crop was corn treated with Roundup plus Atrazine. Beyers planted the field on May 16 at a rate of 180,000 seeds per acre. He harvested 177,400 plants per acre on Oct. 19.

He reported that some plants suffered from disease pressure.
“There was some charcoal rot present in the plot,” Beyers said.
There were 36 hybrids participating in this test site, and the average between all of them was 53.8 bu./acre.

Other top finishing hybrids in this include: Jung 8237NRR, 59.9 bu./acre with a moisture level of 16.3 percent; Midwest Seed GR2334, 59.3 bu./acre with a moisture level of 16.1 percent; Asgrow AG2406, 56.6 bu./acre with a moisture level of 15.7 percent; and Kruger K-239RR, 56.6 bu./acre with a moisture level of 16.2 percent.

A list of all the varieties in this test is available at www.firstseedtests.com