By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

LEIPSIC, Ohio — Top corn yields on a northwestern Ohio farm stretched close to the 200 bushels-per-acre mark in early- and full-season tests conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.).

In the early-season test, planted April 22 at a rate of 33,000 seeds per acre and harvested on Sept. 28 at 31,573 plants per acre on the Putnam County farm, Mycogen took the top yield spot with its 2P612 GC variety, at 194.2 bushels per acre. It also grossed the highest per-acre income out of 45 varieties tested, at $860.20.

Rupp took second and third places with varieties XR8013 and XR8407, respectively: Their per-acre yields were 179.2 and 177.9 bushels. The per-acre gross income for each was separated by only a few dollars, at $795.90 for XR8013 and $790.80 for XR8407.

The top yielder in the full-season test was Stewart variety 7T765, at 188.9 bushels per acre and a gross income of $829.50 per acre. Coming in second was Specialty 4958VT3 with 177.3 bushels, and Great Lakes 6229G3VT3 took third place with 175.8 bushels per acre. Their gross incomes were, respectively, $786 and $775.10.

Planting for the full-season test followed the same schedule as for the early test and even at the same seeding rate of 33,000 per acre; harvest on Sept. 28 yielded an end result of 31,40. F.I.R.S.T. Manager Rich Schleuning explained an ideal season helped the crop testing along.

“Crop got off to good start with ample rain to get ahead of a hot, dry late July through August,” he said. “Stalk quality was good, with light lodging.”

The field itself – belonging to Ed Rigel of Rigel Farms of Leipsic – had previously been planted to wheat and was conditioned with high potassium and phosphorous, according to Schleuning’s report. It was well-drained clay loam, non-irrigated with minimum fall tilling.

Dekalb variety DKC59-35 CK was the “check brand” used in both the early- and full-season tests. In scientific terms, this was F.I.R.S.T.’s control, or known performer, against which the other varieties were being compared – but it is not part of the test itself. In terms of placement among the 30 top-yielding varieties in each test, the Dekalb would have come in second in each test.

The average yield of the early-season testers was 168.5 bushels per acre, and for the full-season, it was 170.2. For more details and to view tests results for the past several years, visit online www.firstseedtests.com