| Crop specialist: plan now for corn-on-corn rotation |
|
|
|
| By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Farmers considering a switch to a corn-on-corn rotation next spring should start planning now, a University of Illinois crop physiologist said.
“The crop farmers grow affects the soil, and there are always more clods in corn soil,” said Fred E. Below, a professor of crop physiology at the University of Illinois. “Residue is a big problem with corn-on-corn, and because of the corn yield penalties associated with residue, tilling or chopping the residue helps.
“To get rid of these clods, farmers need to till in the fall and not in the spring. In conservation tillage, strip till is the best method. No-till with continuous corn doesn’t work well because the residue issue is a problem,” he added.
Below’s research focuses on management practices and how it can affect yield penalties.
“With corn-on-corn, farmers are taking, on average, a 10 percent yield penalty,” he said. “We’re looking at how farmers can use management techniques to lessen or alleviate that yield hit.”
Increased interest in ethanol and construction of ethanol plants has pushed more farmers to consider corn-on-corn, he said.
“The ethanol phenomenon has pushed up the price of corn, and thus pushed continuous corn,” he said.
“There has always been research on this topic, but a lot was done without the new biotech traits.
We always need to update the research. We’ve been doing this research for the last 10 years. But there’s a lot more interest now that there’s more continuous corn grown.”
One of the primary reasons farmers used traditional rotations such as corn-to-soybeans was to control the corn rootworm beetle, Below said.
“Because of biotechnology and hybrids, the use of rotation to control insects is a lot less necessary now. It doesn’t matter what the rotation is anymore.”
The latest biotechnology seems to like continuous corn more than the traditional corn-on-soybean rotation, he said.
Below said the three biggest factors in corn yield – nitrogen rate, hybrids and the weather – are part of ongoing research.
Corn-on-corn requires more nitrogen than a corn-on-soybeans rotation, Below admitted.
He recommends an application in the 30 to 50 pounds or higher range.
Farmers may not need to change hybrids in a switch to corn-on-corn, he said.
“The best hybrid on (corn-on-soybean) rotation is the best hybrid on continuous corn,” he said.
“It’s the same soil. You don’t have to have a new hybrid.”
Although, the weather has to cooperate for optimum yields, he said.
“We can’t control the weather but you still have to plan for weather problems,” he said.
“The bottom line is you need to manage, and you need to plant the best hybrid.”
This farm news was published in the Sept. 12, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/12/2007 |
|
