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Full-season corn exceeds 200 yield on Indiana seed test site
 
By SUSAN BLOWER
Indiana Correspondent

WOLCOTT, Ind. — Last summer’s drought impaired the early-season hybrids test in Wolcott performed by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.), resulting in the data being rejected.

“In the application of lime in this field, the rigs that drilled it caused compaction in the soil. It was noticeable due to the drought. Normally, you would not have even seen it,” said Site Manager Rich Schleuning.

The lime was applied six years ago. Both early tests were rejected, and one full-season test was dropped. In heavily compacted areas, ears ranged from barren to 12 kernels round and 14 long. In good areas, some poor pollination, ear tipback, slight stalk lodging and rust were still noted.

Schleuning said this is not the first time test plots have failed, resulting in data being lost. Fortunately, in an adjacent field that was not similarly compacted, a full-season test was satisfactory, with hybrids even performing better than expected, he said.
The location was the farm of Bruce and Vernon Furrer in White County, situated in northern Indiana. With an early harvest date of Sept. 22, the hybrids on the full-season test performed “a lot better than expected,” perhaps due to the “extra shots of rain” received by the field, Schleuning said.

In fact, the moisture content was good, he said, with the top producers scoring about 23 percent. The test average was 21.8 percent for 48 hybrids tested.

Ebberts held the top two spots for both yield and gross income per acre. Ebberts 7222VT3P produced 231.3 bushels and $1,689 in gross income per acre, followed closely by Ebberts 7712VT3P, which had 230.8 bushels and $1,680 in gross income.

LG Seeds LG2602VT3Pro came in third with 222.8 bushels and $1,628 in gross income per acre.

The lot was seeded on April 18 with 34,200 kernels per acre and harvested early with 33,400 plants per acre, which Schleuning considered a good stand. The previous crop was wheat. The soil was silt loam, well-drained, conventional with fall till, and non-irrigated.
Go to www.firstseedtests.com for a complete record of this test and others performed throughout the region.
10/26/2012