By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A late season survey of corn hybrids performed by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) conducted on the farm of John Barttelbort in St. Clair County was won by AgriGold’s A6639VT3 variety, which yielded 231.3 bushels per acre.

The strain beat out Wyffels W9121 hybrid (228.7 bu./acre) and Hoblit 5827VT3 (228.6 bu./acre).

AgriGold’s hybrid was valued at $1,072.60. Weather conditions which resulted in bent stalks held down yields, according to F.I.R.S.T. plot manager Eric W. Beyers.

“The corn test was down considerably,” Beyers told Farm World. “There was about 54 percent lodging during our early season test, and 64-65 percent lodging on the full season test. It was planted June 11 and the timing of the growth stage for the late planted hybrids when Hurricane Ike hit was not a good combination.
“But even then the yields were over 200 bushels. It’s really interesting; it took me three days to harvest that.”

Beyers’ field notes said the entire plot was flat on the ground, permitting harvesting in only one direction. Barttelbort noted that rains came every week throughout the year.

The plot was planted in Muscatine Silt Loam with only a 0.1 percent slope. According to file notes, the plot suffered from “somewhat poor” drainage. The previous crop was soybeans and was treated with Roundup.

An early season test of corn hybrids conducted on the Barttelbort farm was won by Stone’s 7T765VT3, which yielded 227.0 bu./acre. It edged out Crows 4726Y by 0.5 bu./acre, and Trisler T-7A14CB, which yielded 226.2.

A list of all of the hybrids considered during this test is available at www.firstseedtests.com