It's again that time of year for free chicken dinners, fancy corn book literature, and a polished sales pitch to make sure you plant those precious corn acres to a particular company's hybrids. It's always a difficult choice when all options are considered but one that can have a profound impact on profit or loss. Now, if you're one of the many "farmer-dealers" in the area, most of what is written here will not be of interest because you're decision is made by virtue of association. However, for the rest of you, here's some thoughts regarding selection of corn hybrids for 1997 and beyond.
This is always a popular form of information and one that can be very helpful when used correctly. The first rule of thumb here is to NEVER use a one farm, one location trial as the sole criteria for seed buying decisions (more on this later). This is true even if it's data from your own farm and it's especially true for 1996 trials where within field variation was tremendous because of wet weather, uneven emergence, dry weather, and a rash of other problems. It's best to gather on-farm trial information from a variety of sources and try to sort-out hybrid performance trends. Even this method has some shortcomings when one considers that often information obtained second-hand is missing certain entries based upon their performance. Additionally, most on-farm trials are not randomized and replicated.
Many producers use the UW yield trial results to help gauge hybrid buying decisions. The results of the 1996 trials were recently published in the state agricultural newspapers. The advantage of using data from these trials is that many hybrids (about 180 at the Fond du Lac location) are compared to each other in a randomized and replicated field plot design. The disadvantage is that the hybrid you are particularly interested in may not have been entered by the company. When using the UW test results, the same rule of thumb applies as with on-farm yield trials --------- don't use single year, single location results. Rather, use multiple location yield information across several growing environments. Several research studies have confirmed that the reliability of hybrid performance improves significantly if this is done.
Why would you not pick a top performing corn hybrid? The yield difference between the top and bottom hybrid in the UW trial at Fond du Lac this year was 75 bushels per acre. Think of the economic consequence of growing that bottom hybrid just because that's what your brother-in-law had a good "deal" on and you liked their company's hats. There are many uncontrollable factors that impact corn grain yield in a growing season, however, hybrid selection is not one of them. Take time this winter to do your homework and verify hybrid performance "hype" offered by seed companies with a number of reliable performance data sources.
Maturity selection had a big impact on final grain yield and quality in 1996. This was also the case in several of the past five years. There are still producers who push full maturity hybrids to the limit on too many of their total corn acres. The advantage of planting a full-season hybrid (100 R.M. or greater) is that they typically offer a greater yield potential. However, this yield advantage for dry grain is only reached if: 1) They are planted in early May, 2) Growing season heat units are at least average, and 3) An early fall frost doesn't occur.
If any of the above factors inhibit a full-season hybrid from reaching an acceptable maturity and moisture level, having too many acres can easily put a producer in a position of harvesting late in year and may prevent fall tillage from being accomplished. The fact is, a full-season hybrid is a fairly high-risk commodity when it's planted for dry grain past May 10. It simply can't be emphasized enough to match planting date to hybrid maturity. Also keep in mind that there are top mid-maturity hybrids that yield as good or better than many of the full-season offerings. These "best" mid-maturity hybrids are the ones producers should strive to select and plant on a majority of their corn acres. Since planting date is usually unknown at the time when seed purchase decisions are made, consider spreading risk by planting more than one hybrid maturity. We would suggest a 10 to 15 day range in relative maturity with a mix of 25% full-season hybrids, 50% mid-season hybrids, and 25% short-season hybrids and plan to make adjustments as weather dictates actual planting dates.
We now have one year of field experience with the new Bt corn hybrids. These hybrids, resistant to European corn borer feeding, hit the market in a year when first generation corn borer populations were at record levels. This certainly gave us an excellent opportunity to evaluate the Bt lines in an environment where their worth, if any, is maximized. Based on 1996 field observations, yield measurements, and UW research trials, here is what has been noted: 1) From a visual standpoint, the Bt lines held-up good and showed few signs of any corn borer damage. 2) From a yield standpoint, the Bt lines did as good or slightly better than the "elite" non-Bt hybrids on the market under heavy corn borer pressure, but yielded significantly lower than these elite non-Bt hybrids when corn borer pressure was low.
For more information contact Mike Rankin|
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