By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

EATON, Ohio — All producing more than 233 bushels of corn per acre, hybrids from Stine, DeKalb and Fielders Choice, respectively, topped the list for a seed test in West Central Ohio earlier this month.

Stine hybrid 9724VT3 was at the head of the class at 235.9 bu./acre, and it had an estimated gross income value of $1,151. The hybrid’s moisture level was 17.4 percent. DeKalb hybrid DKC62-54 produced 233.6 bu./acre, and Fielders Choice wasn’t far behind at 233.1 bu./acre.

The test was conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) on the farm of Mike Brubaker in rural Preble County, Ohio. The test plot had a silty clay loam and a .5 percent slope. The no-till field was moderately well drained.

Approximately 32,000 seeds per acre were planted on April 30, and 31,500 plants per acre were harvested on Oct. 11. F.I.R.S.T. manager Rich Schleuning was pleased with the final results of the test.

He said the Eaton test site suffered many weather challenges this year. “The crop got off to a good start with good emergence and final stand,” Schleuning explained. “Yields were a surprise due to how dry July and August were.”

Like many areas across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, wind damage from Hurricane Ike also lodged many of the plants at this site. “The yield variability observed is mainly due to hybrid lodging and subsequent poor yields in highly lodged plots,” Schleuning said.
He explained that, across all of the wind-damaged sites, the seeds that were planted early didn’t seem to perform as well as the ones planted after heavy, late-spring rainstorms. Schleuning said during the dry months of July and August caused the plant to put all of its energy into making ears – leaving the stalk to suffer. The winds from Hurricane Ike then easily pushed over the weaker stalks.

Other hybrids in the top 10, and their yields, were: Stewart 7T765, 229.2 bu./acre; AgriGold A6533VT3, 222.9; Fielders Choice NG6820, 222.4; iCORN.com 112.VT3, 220.8; Stine 9806VT3, 219.5; Ebberts 2711QUAD, 218.6; and Pfister 2775VTRR2, 217.9.