By SUSAN BLOWER
Indiana Correspondent

PERRYSVILLE, Ind. — The average corn yield was surprisingly high, with 253.2 bushels per acre, on the early-season test performed on Dennis Hughs’ farm in Vermillion County by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.).

In the 2010 Better Hybrids comparison at the central Indiana farm, Stewart 7T630 polled the top yield with 287.6 bushels. LG Seeds LG2555VT3 and Pioneer P1184XR GC were close behind, with 286.6 and 286.5, respectively.

Golden Harvest H-8577 3000GT brought in a healthy 285 bushels per acre, as well. This same hybrid was ranked first in terms of profit: $1,286.20 per acre.

“This was a ‘little’ better yield than I anticipated,” said Rich Schleuning, F.I.R.S.T. manager, with a laugh.

In fact, the high yields were “surprising” given that some fields were 20-30 bushels below last year’s crop, Schleuning said. He expected a result of 180 bushels per acre.

“In this area, field by field, there has been a lot of variation this year. Location, soil type and drainage are the (variables),” he said.
Stewart was ranked second in gross income with $1,285.90 per acre, and LG Seeds was third with $1,284.80. The average figure was $1,140.50.

Overall, average moisture was 18.1 percent, lodging was 1 percent and stand was 32,100. “Plant health was good, as all varieties were still holding leaves. Good, hard cob with deep kernel set,” Schleuning noted.

The previous crop had been soybeans treated with glyphosate on silty clay loam, which was well-drained, no-till, and non-irrigated.

Full season test

In the full season test, on the same plot, yields remained above average at 253.8 bushels. Moisture was 18.3 percent, lodging was 1 percent and stand was 33,000, on average.

Great Lakes 6354G3VT3 performed the best, with 290.1 bushels per acre. Specialty 6989VT3 followed with 285.3 bushels, and Channel 214-14VT3P produced 279.7 bushels per acre.

The gross income ranking followed the same pattern: Great Lakes earned $1,290.10, Specialty $1,280.70 and Channel $1,248.90 per acre. The top two performers in both tests used YieldGard VT Triple on their corn.

Farmers can go to www.firstseedtests.com for a complete list of brands tested and the database. Schleuning said the extra research pays off.

“We can draw some good conclusions when we look at multiple sites and see the consistency of the hybrid and its performance across a large area … We’ve had extreme dryness, timely rain and too much rain in other areas this year,” he added.