RIGA, Mich. — Five seed companies took the top six places in early- and full-season corn tests at Bill Bierman’s Lenawee County farm, conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST) during this year’s growing season.
FIRST Site Manager Rich Schleuning, who planted the plots on May 28 and harvested them Nov. 10, was surprised that grain moistures were at the levels they were during harvest given the late planting date. Overall, the average moisture in the early-season trial was 22.3 percent, while the full-season plot averaged 26.1 percent.
DEKALB DKC48-12RIB CK topped the early-season trial with a yield of 223.3 bushels per acre, at 21.7 percent moisture and an overall gross income of $744 per acre. AgriGold A6257STXRIB came in second, yielding 220.7 bushels per acre with moisture of 23.7 percent and a gross income of $744.
Third went to M&W Seeds 46J11, which yielded 195.2 bushels per acre at a moisture level of 19.9 percent and an income of $660 per acre.
Rounding out the top five were Channel 197-68STXRIB and Pioneer P0533AM1 GC. Channel yielded 218 bushels and Pioneer yielded 216.7 bushels, both at 24.2 percent moisture, with gross incomes of $724 and $713, respectively.
Planting of the early-season test was at a rate of 34,000 seeds per acre and they were harvested with a stand of 32,200 plants per acre. The average yield of all 36 varieties was 204.2 bushels per acre, with an average per-acre income of $678.
In the full-season test, which was planted at a rate of 34,000 seeds per acre and harvested with a stand of 32,300, M&W Seeds variety 45P88 finished first with a yield of 218.3 bushels per acre and a gross income of $710 per acre. Its moisture level was 24.9 percent.
In the next spot was NuTech/G2 Gen 5H-502, yielding 216.2 bushels per acre at 24.3 percent moisture and an income of $706. TA Seeds earned third place with its TA544-28RIB variety, yielding 216.5 bushels at 25 percent moisture and an income of $704.
DEKALB and M&W Seeds were close. DEKALB took the fourth-place slot with its DKC48-12RIB CK variety, which yielded 211.9 bushels per acre with an income of $704 and moisture of 22.2 percent. M&W Seeds 45J99 produced 211.8 bushels per acre at 25.3 percent moisture and an income of $687 per acre.
The full-season test average for all varieties came in at 203.6 bushels per acre with an average per-acre gross income of $656.
Schleuning reported "the crop was standing well" despite having disease infestation of gibberella stalk rot, anthracnose, some light diplodia ear rot and light leaf blight.
"Stands were reduced a bit more than normal due to the cool, wet conditions this spring, but not a bad year for the weather conditions this season," he added.
The non-irrigated fields had previously been planted to alfalfa and were conditioned with high levels of phosphorous and moderate to high levels of potassium. The silt loam soil was well-drained and the corn was no-tilled.
The crop was treated with Roundup, Lumax and Force for pest management. Complete results for these and other tests can be found online at www.first seedtests.com
