By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

DUNKIRK, Ohio — Delayed corn planting in the spring showed its affects during the harvest in the fall at a seed test site in Northwestern Ohio recently.

In the early-season test conducted by Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.), iCORN.com hybrid 109.5VT3 earned the highest scores. The hybrid had a yield 150.5 bushels per acre, a moisture level of 17.7 percent and an estimated gross income of $732.20 per acre.

The test plot was on the Hardin County, Ohio farm of Jerry McBride. The field had a clay loam soil with a 1 percent slope. It is a no-till field that is well drained. Soybeans were previously grown on this site, and they were treated with Roundup.

F.I.R.S.T. test site manager Rich Schleuning said weather had a negative impact on this location.

“The wet spring delayed planting until May 22,” he reported. “Emergence was slow and uneven from the wet and cool conditions. The later emerging plants did catch up, but led to variable harvest moistures.”

Then, as in other locations around the Midwest, the fields turned dry.

“Dry conditions did set in as July and August had no rainfall,” Schleuning added. “Lodging in the early-season test was a major contributor to the above normal yield variability.”

He planted at a rate of 32,000 seeds per acre on May 22, and he harvested 30,300 plants per acre on Oct. 25.

Other top-finishing hybrids for the early-season test were: Rupp XR8045, 149 bu./acre; Crows 2155VT3, 148.9 bu./acre; DeKalb DKC57-79, 147.9 bu./acre; and Midwest Seed 72116VT3, 147.5 bu./acre.

Late-season test

DeKalb hybrid DKC62-54 took the top spot at the late-season test in Dunkirk, Ohio late last month.

The hybrid produced 154.6 bu./acre with a moisture level of 18.5 percent and an estimated gross income of $745.50 per acre.
Other top producers at this test were: Crows 4688VT3, 145.7 bu./acre; Becks EX0842VT3, 145.2 bu./acre; Dairyland Seed 9410, 144 bu./acre; and Ebberts Seed 2909VT3, 143.8 bu./acre.
A list of all the hybrids in this test is available at www.firstseedtests.com