GREENSBURG, Ind. — More than 100 seed corn varieties tested this year on a Decatur County, Ind., farm were put through the wringer immediately after planting – and even later, too.

Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) selected the Greensburg farm of Gordon and Jeff Smiley for two corn tests in 2012. Both the early- and full-season variety trials were planted on May 7, each at a volume of 35,500 seeds per acre.

The early-season planting put 45 varieties to the test and the full-season, 63 varieties. But they underwent even more of a trial than F.I.R.S.T. Site Manager Rich Schleuning anticipated, since just five hours after planting, the sky let loose with a hard rain of 2.5 inches.

“We chose not to replant,” he explained, adding the stands did end up damaged – at harvest on Oct. 8, the early-season test yielded only 25,400 plants per acre and the full-season harvest, 25,200 plants.

Then, in mid-July, the test plots were hammered with a storm that featured hail causing minor damage to leaves (though not the stalks). “The lodging scores (on the reports) are due to root lodging from that July storm,” he reported.

In the early-season test, the average yield was 117.7 bushels per acre and average gross income per acre was $857. This makes the top yield of 145.4 bushels per acre even more notable, then, achieved by G2 Genetics variety 5H-1005. Gross income per acre for this seed was $1,043.

Coming in second for yield was AgriGold variety A6408VT3Pro, at 136.9 bushels and a gross income of $1,002 per acre. Placing third in the test was LG Seeds variety LG2549VT3 with 135.8 bushels and an income of $982 per acre.

Moisture content ranged from 28.2 down to 22.3 for these three varieties; the overall test average was 23.7 percent.

In the full-season test, Ebberts variety 7712VT3P yielded the highest, at 150.2 bushels per acre, with a moisture content of 27.3 percent and gross income per acre at $1,080.

Coming in second was Seed Consultants variety SCS 11HQ31 with 138.5 bushels and $991 income per acre; moisture content was 28.7 percent. Third place went to Steyer variety 11407VT3PRO for a yield of 136.5 bushels and an income of $984 per acre. This corn had a moisture content of 26.7 percent.

The average yield for the full-season test was 120.1 bushels per acre, with moisture content at 25.3 percent. Gross income per acre, average, was $870.

The “check brand” used for comparison in both tests was Pioneer variety P1018AM1 CK – this is a variety whose performance is previously known, planted as a check against the new varieties being trialed. In the early-season test its yield was 113.8 bushels per acre and in the full-season test, 117 bushels.