GRAND RIDGE, Ill. — Although sudden death syndrome and pythium were evident in the field surrounding this test plot, no diseases were seen in the actual LaSalle County soybean trial hosted at the farm of Christ and David Thomas.

Jason Beyers, field manager for Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST) based in Illinois, said those particular diseases often hit pockets that stay wet and cool.

The Thomas test site was well drained, he added.

In his notes, Beyers wrote: "Plants were medium height with short internodes. Pod set was good and almost all contained three beans per pod."

Beyers said several of the varieties still had green stems, which tends to slow the harvest process, but seed size was larger than average.

He added the seed pods held together well, not allowing much combine head shatter.

The plot was planted May 22 and harvested Oct. 8 in a field following last year’s corn crop. The field was tilled conventionally, with a fall till last year.

Beyers said soils at the Grand Ridge site have an extreme water-holding capacity, which was beneficial as rainfall was scarce there in July.

The top hybrid in this soybean test was Dairyland variety DSR-2909/R2Y, at 80.7 bushels per acre and an estimated gross income of $831 per acre.

Stine variety 28RE20 at 79.2 bushels and $816 per acre and Steyer 2805R2 at 77.3 bushels and $796 were the second- and third-highest-yielding plants, respectively. All three have Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield technology.

In the top 30 of 72 hybrids tested on the site, yields varied from 80.7-72.8 bushels per acre.

For a complete list of all the brands tested and a searchable database of information, visit www.firstseedtests.com