By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent ROSSVILLE, Ill. — The Kevin Weinard farm in Vermilion County, Ill. was a site of late and early season hybrid tests conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) to determine the highest-yielding brands.
The tests revealed that DeKalb’s DKC62-54 corn hybrid outperformed its closest competition, including close cousin DeKalb DKC61-69 and ICORN.com’s 111.6VTS variety in the late season test. DeKalb 62-54 yielded 241.7 bushels per acre, edging out DeKalb 61-69 at 240.2 bu./acre. ICORN’s hybrid yielded 238.6 bu./acre.
Winner DeKalb 62-54 realized a gross income of $1,141.20 per acre.
Weinard’s previous crop was soybeans with Roundup herbicide. The soil conditions were described as Milford Silty Loam with a 1.5 percent slope, moderately drained.
An estimated 36,300 seeds were planted on May 25 and 33,500 plants were harvested on Oct. 25.
An early-season trial was won by Crows’ 4799VTS hybrid with a yield of 243.2 bushels per acre. Crows bested Midwest Seeds 76996VT3 (236.1bu./ acre) and Great Lakes 5711G3VT3 (232.3 bu./acre).
Early season yields could have been better, according to F.I.R.S.T. plot manager Eric W. Beyers, if Mother Nature would have been more cooperative during key growing cycles.
“Due to later planting, pollination for the early season test occurred during the 90-plus degree heat period in late July,” Beyers wrote in his field notes from the test plot.
“With this combination of heat and higher plant populations, some hybrids displayed smaller size ears that reduced their yields.”
Though the higher-graded hybrids did not exhibit lodging, many of the other varieties tested did.
“The harvested lodging score reflects root lodging,” Beyers reported. “Some hybrid strips were extremely lodged with every plant laying over.”
Also in the top five hybrids of the early test were Kruger K-6107-VT3 at 231.4 bu./acre and Campbell 591-76VT3 at 231.1 bu./acre.
All of F.I.R.S.T.’s field reports are on the Internet at www.firstseedtests.com |
