WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. — Great Lakes 6232G3VT3 was the best in the field of 81 varieties, in a full-season hybrid corn test plot farmed by father and son Bruce and Nick Constant in Sangamon County, Ill.

The Great Lakes hybrid yielded 231.8 bushels to the acre, with a gross income of $1584.40. The second-place LG Seeds LG2602VT3 produced 228.7 bushels per acre, gross income $1,560.90; and third-place Pfister 2574HXTR had 227.9 bushels and a  gross income of $1,559.40.

This test and an early-season test on the Constants’ property was conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.).

The top-yielding Great Lakes variety was grown on moderately well-drained Tama silt loam soil, which had conventional fall tillage and was non-irrigated. The Constants used Degree Xtra, Roundup WeatherMax and Prolex pest management.

Soybeans preceded the corn crop, which was planted May 5 at 35,000 seeds to the acre.  A stand of 31,700 plants per acre was harvested Sept. 20.

The F.I.R.S.T. site manager for the full- and early-season tests was Eric Beyers, who said it took two days to get the field planted because of rain.

“That was the kind of spring it was,” he said. “It stayed in-character because June saw a lot of rain. The Constants probably got at least 12 to 15 inches in June alone. It dwarfed some of the plants. They did get 1.5 inches in July and August, so they were lucky – other fields were dry.”

Nick Constant commented that many cornfields were yielding up to 100 bushels to the acre in low-lying areas, where huge rains during May and June drowned or dwarfed corn plants. Splitting a lodge stalk revealed severe stalk rot disease located in the lower three to four nodes.

In the early-season test on the Constants’ farm, FS Seed product FS 58MV4 was top-yielding, with 225.9 bushels to the acre and a gross income of $1,559.30.

Ranked second was Pioneer’s P1018HR GC, yielding 224.4 bushels per acre and a gross income of $1548.90. Bo-Jac variety 9460 came in third, yielding 223.3 bushels and a gross income of $1,545.20.