ROSSVILLE, Ill. — NK Brand N72F-3000GT topped a field of 90 varieties in a full-season hybrid corn test plot farmed by Kevin Weinard in Vermilion County, Ill.

The hybrid yielded 213.7 bushels to the acre, outdoing Dyna-Grow CX11113 at 212.5 bushels per acre and LG Seeds LG2602VT3, which had 211.9 bushels. This and an early-season test on the same property were conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.).

The winning NK seed variety also produced a gross income average of $1,234.1 per acre and was grown on Milford silty clay loam soil, which was moderately well-drained. Weinard used Verdict and Roundup UltraMax pest management on the non-irrigated field.

The 36,600 seedling-to-the-acre crop was planted May 20 and it followed a soybean crop; 33,900 plants were harvested on Oct. 8.

The rain total for the field during July and August was only about 1/2-inch, Weinard said. The harvested corn plants were quite tall, at 10-12 feet. Some ear development was poor.

“The hybrids yielded very well, considering what they went through as far as rain totals and heat,” said F.I.R.S.T. Manager Eric Beyers, who works in central and southern Illinois.

“One of the things that stuck out at that location was the health of the hybrids – the green stocks. When they would come into the header, it just made a mess sometimes, dry corn but green stalks.

“Standability was excellent. Overall, just a beautiful standing field of corn,” he observed.

In an early-season test on Weinard’s farm, variety Beck 544 VT3 edged out its competition with a yield of 210.3 bushels per acre and a gross income of $1,229.7.

In second place was LG Seeds’ LG2555VT3, yielding 202.3 bushels per acre and a gross income of $1,190, followed by G2 Genetics 5F-1201 at 197.4 bushels and a gross income of $1,157.8 per acre.

That early corn, which followed soybeans, was planted on May 20 at a rate of 36,600 seeds to the acre. It was harvested Oct. 8, with 34,100 plants to the acre. The stalk strength of many of the harvested plants was incredible, Weinard said; many times, the combine corn head jammed from the wet, green stalks.

For more information or to learn how you may be able to host a future F.I.R.S.T. test plot, visit www.firstseedtests.com