By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent WOLCOTT, Ind. — With a yield of 70.9 bushels per acre and a gross income of $779.70, soybean hybrid Asgrow AG3006 bested the competition in a seed trial in northwestern Indiana’s White County last month.
The beans were grown on land owned by Bruce and Vernon Furrer and the test was conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.).
Persistent rainfall made it difficult to get the seeds in the ground, according to F.I.R.S.T. manager Rich Schleuning. “We made four attempts (to plant) and every time we got there it rained. But when we did finally get in we had ideal conditions.”
The field was planted with 210,000 seeds per acre on May 22 and harvested with 194,100 plants per acre on Oct. 4.
The moisture level was 7.6 percent. The soil conditions for the well-drained and conventionally tilled test plot were a sandy loam with a .5 percent slope. Last year, the field was planted with corn and treated with Steadfast and Callisto.
Despite the late planting, Schleuning said the warmer soil and favorable growing conditions helped the beans in the test plot catch up with adjacent fields that had been planted earlier.
“The growing season in the area was pretty good,” he said. “We received some good rains when we needed them.”
The test plot sustained limited damage from the heavy rains and strong winds that blew in over Indiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, but “with a couple of varieties there was intense lodging,” Schleuning said.
Plant height was 38-40 inches. Roundup was applied to the crop and no pest problems were reported.
A couple of varieties still had green stems at harvest, which slowed down the picking, and Schleuning described the beans as “very dry.”
Becks 321NRR came in second in the test with a yield of 69 bu./acre and a gross income of $758.70 per acre, followed by Ebberts Field 1279RR, which yielded 68.7 bu./acre and grossed $755.60.
The results for the top 30 performers from the Furrer farm are published in the chart on page 12. |
