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 encouraged to participate.
Maturity Zones:
Trials will be conducted within three maturity zones:
- Zone 1 – Early season hybrids - Relative maturity <100 days (1900 - 2399 GDD)
- Zone 2 – Early – mid season hybrids - Relative maturity 100-108 days (2400 - 2549 GDD)
- Zone 3 – Mid - late season hybrids - Relative maturity > 108 days (2550 - 2950 GDD)
Three 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. Each field plot will be 10 feet wide (4 rows spaced 30 inches apart) and 17.5 feet long and the center two rows will be harvested. Plots will not be thinned. Stand counts will be made in June after corn has reached the V8 - V10 stage of development.
Seed requirements:
Four pounds of seed (medium flat or round size preferred) are required for each zone. We will only accept Glyphosate tolerant entries this year! A hybrid may be entered into more than one zone if the relative maturity falls between two zones. 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.
Source : psu.edu