2018 Corn Grain And Silage Variety Trials

Corn grain and silage tests are conducted annually to provide information regarding the performance of corn grown in Pennsylvania.

 

This program provides farmers, seed corn companies, and university personnel with information on the relative performance of corn hybrids grown under Pennsylvania conditions.

 

To enter hybrids into the 2018 Corn Evaluation Program, an application must be filled out. The application forms can be found below. Also found below, is a non-proprietary field grant form, which is required with all applications.

Dear Seedsmen,

 

Your company is encouraged to participate in the 2018 Pennsylvania Commercial Hybrid Corn Program. This program provides farmers, seed corn companies, and university personnel with information on the relative performance of corn hybrids grown under Pennsylvania conditions. Test results will be available in the Lancaster Farmer Corn Talk edition and online at Penn State Extension. We also publish annually “The Pennsylvania Commercial Grain and Silage Hybrid Corn Test Report”. The application forms can also be found at this site.

 

Corn Grain Test Protocol

Objective:

 

To provide an unbiased source of information on corn hybrid performance in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania corn producers and their advisors. All seed companies marketing in Pennsylvania are welcome to participate.

 

Maturity Zones:

 

As in past years, these trials will be conducted within four maturity zones:

Four locations will be planted within each Zone. Each location may have high or moderate fertility and various tillage practices. Hybrids will be assigned to the maturity zone based upon information given by the seed company. If past experience with a given hybrid indicated that it may be too early or too late for the zone requested, it may be placed in the proper maturity after consultation with the seed company. Each hybrid entered will be replicated 4 times at each location. Planting will be done with a precision vacuum planter targeting a seeding rate of 34,000 seeds per acre. A planter applied application of insecticide will be made on fields following corn. We recommend medium size flat or round sized seed for optimum planting efficiency. We will plant 4 rows in each replication and harvest the center two rows. Plot rows will be 17.5 feet in length x 30 inches wide. Plots will not be thinned. Stand counts will be made in June after corn has reached the V8 - V10 stage of development.

 

 

Four pounds of seed (medium flat or round size preferred) are required for each zone. A hybrid may be entered into more than one zone if the relative maturity falls between two zones. The application fee will be $275.00 for each zone entered. No provision is made for reimbursement of application fees due to dropped test sites or late arriving seed entries. The deadline for the application form is March 5. Seed should be sent no later than March 19 (sooner if possible).We cannot guarantee entry placement after this date. Please let us know if seed shipment is delayed for some reason (winter nursery, etc.) so we can plan accordingly. Typical planting date is targeted for mid-April.

 

 

Entries with seed applied insecticides and approved transgenic traits are accepted. The application form has space provided to indicate this information. Please provide as much information as possible so we can correctly identify your hybrids entered in the trials. If a hybrid is conventional, please list this in the same space as the traits.

 

 

The non-proprietary field grant form must be returned with the entry form. The preferred method for delivery is via email (jab94@psu.edu). Both forms can be found on this page

 

 

The following data will be collected: yield, grain moisture, percent stalk lodging, and final population. Additionally, if disease or pest damage is found, these will be noted.

 

 

We have been working with the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania (PDMP) since 2002 in developing a corn silage testing program to provide better and more complete information to Pennsylvania farmers on hybrid corn performance as a forage crop. PDMP will provide an application and details of test sites which you should soon receive in a separate mailing. An online application is available at the PDMP website. Please contact us if you do not receive this application and are interested in entering into this testing program. At each site, 4 rows of each variety are planted in 3 replications. Planting will be done with a precision vacuum planter targeting a seeding rate of 34,000 seeds per acre. At harvest the center two rows are chopped using a McCormick® tractor equipped with a front mounted Kemper® header/chopper and a rear mounted Hege® sampler equipped with electronic scales. Plot weight will be recorded using HarvestMaster® electronic instrumentation. A subsample of each plot will be bagged from the Hege® sampler and sent for analysis to Cumberland Valley Analytical Laboratory in Hagerstown, MD. Data will be analyzed and made available online.

 

 

The Pennsylvania State University corn testing program is equipped and has land resources available to conduct a limited number of contractual research projects that can generate beneficial information to you and the Pennsylvania corn industry. Examples are: small plot yield trials, population rate studies, fertility trials, disease evaluation, and soil compaction. Please let me know if we can assist in these projects.