Corn Yield Response to Crop Inputs

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Corn Yield Response to Crop Inputs -2022

TRIAL OBJECTIVE

  • Crop inputs can always be added to a corn production system, but it is important to know which ones have the biggest impact on yield. Being able to compare the yield from various inputs and the costs associated with the inputs provides a means to decide the potential return on investing in specific inputs to boost corn yields.

  • The objective of this study was to evaluate how corn yield is influenced by six different inputs added to a corn system, including adding each one to a base treatment or subtracting one from a treatment with all other inputs included.

 

RESEARCH SITE DETAILS

LocationGothenburg, NE   
Soil Type Hord silt loam  

Previous
Crop
Soybean  
Tillage
Type
Strip-till  


 
Planting Date04/27/22  
Harvest Date10/17/22 

Potential Yield
 (bu/acre)
300  
Seeding Rate
(seeds/acre)
34K & 42K


 
 
  • A 118 RM VT Double PRO® RIB Complete® corn blend was selected for the trial based on proven high yield potential.
  • The study was a randomized complete block design with four replications and 12 management treatments (Table 1).
  • Weeds were controlled uniformly across the study with an application of 32 fl oz/acre Roundup PowerMAX® herbicide, 5 fl oz/acre Corvus® herbicide, 32 fl oz/acre Harness® herbicide, and 32 fl oz/acre Atrazine 4L herbicide on May 10, 2022.
  • A base fertilizer application of 30 lb nitrogen (N)/acre, 60 lb phosphorus (P)/acre, 25 lb sulfur (S)/acre, 0.25 lb zinc (Zn)/acre was strip-tilled across appropriate treatments on April 21, 2022.
  • 30 lb N/acre, 60 lb P/acre, 25 lb S/acre, 0.25 lb Zn/acre, 0.5 lb boron /acre was strip-tilled across appropriate treatments on April 22, 2022.
  • 4 fl oz of Delaro® 325 SC fungicide was sprayed on appropriate treatments on June 12, 2022.
  • 40 lb of N/acre was applied with Y-drops on appropriate treatments at V7 on June 16, 2022.
  • 153 lb of N/acre was applied with Y-drops on appropriated treatments at V7 on several treatments on June 17, 2022.
  • 8 fl oz of Delaro® Complete Fungicide was applied on several treatments on July 22, 2022
  • A total of nine inches of irrigation was applied to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crop.
  • Stalk lodging and final stand counts were taken just prior to harvest.
  • Plots were combine-harvested. Grain moisture content, test weight, and total weight were determined. Statistical analysis for Fisher’s LSD was performed.
  •  

Table 1: Site Soil Test Information

image

Table 2. Management treatments

image

UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS

image Figure 1. Impact of management treatments on average corn yield. Bayer Water Utilization Learning Center at Gothenburg, NE. 2022.

Impact on Yield 

Low Management (LM) –

  • The yield of 42,000 seeds per acre was lower than the 34,000 seeds per acre under the LM treatment
  • While overall additions to the LM system saw decreased numerical yields, yields were not significantly different compared to the base LM treatment.
  • The addition of 0.5 lb/acre of boron only increased yield by of 1 bu/acre over the base LM treatment.
  • Comparing the two systems, the low management (LM) system yielded about 15 bu/acre less than the high management (HM) system.

High Management (HM) –

  • The impact on yield by subtracting treatments from the high management system, ranged from a reduction of 11 to 27 bushels per acre depending on the treatment.
  • The removal of the V6 and the VT applications of a fungicide to the base HM resulted in the highest reduction in yield, at 27 bu/acre. While the removal of the application of a fungicide at the resulted in an 18 bu/acre reduction.
  • While addition of boron provided about the same yield as the base LM system, the removal of the boron application in the HM system resulted in an 11-bushel reduction in yield when compared to the HM system.

 

 

image Figure 2. Ears harvested in five feet of row. Top eleven ears from corn planted at 42,000 seeds/acre in High Management treatment. Bottom nine ears harvested from the High Management – density treatment planted at 34,000 seeds/acre. Note very stable ear size even at the high seeding rate. Gothenburg, NE 2022.

KEY LEARNINGS

  • In the low management system increasing the seeding rate from 34,000 seeds per acre to 42,000 seeds per acre numerically reduced yield about 10 bu/acre. Compared to the high management system by reducing the seeding rate to 34,000 seeds per acre saw a significant reduction in yield of 13 bu/acre.
  • While disease pressure was not apparent removing a either a V6 or a VT fungicide application in the HM system, had a significant decrease in yield of 28 bu/acre and 18 bu/acre, respectively.
  • Moving from the base low management system to the high management system returned a net increase of 15 bu/acre.
  • Carefully weighing the cost of additional inputs to the expected returns is important in making economical decisions on the levels of management inputs, as grain prices and input prices fluctuate.

Corn Yield Response to Crop Inputs -2021

TRIAL OBJECTIVE

  • Additional crop inputs can always be added to a corn production system, but it is important to know which ones have the biggest impact on yield. Being able to compare the yield from various inputs and the costs associated with the inputs provides a means to decide the potential return on investing in specific inputs to boost corn yields.

  • The objective of this study was to evaluate how corn yield is influenced by six different inputs added to a corn system, including adding each one to a base treatment or subtracting one from a treatment with all other inputs included.

 

RESEARCH SITE DETAILS

LocationGothenburg, NE   
Soil Type Hord silt loam  

Previous
Crop
Soybean  
Tillage
Type
Strip-till  


 
Planting Date04/30/21  
Harvest Date11/08/21 

Potential Yield
 (bu/acre)
300  
Seeding Rate
(seeds/acre)
32K & 40K


 
  • A 109 RM VT Double PRO® RIB Complete® corn blend was selected for the trial based on proven high yield potential.

  • The study was a randomized complete block design with four replications and twelve management treatments (Table 1). 

  • Weeds were controlled uniformly across the study with an application of 32 fl oz/acre Roundup PowerMAX® Herbicide, 5 fl oz/acre Corvus® herbicide, 2 pt/acre Harness® Herbicide, and 1 qt/acre Atrazine 4L on May 4, 2021. 

  • A base fertilizer application of 30 lb nitrogen (N)/acre, 60 lb phosphorus (P)/acre, 25 lb sulfur (S)/acre, 0.25 lb zinc (Zn)/acre was strip-tilled across all treatments on April 23, 2021. 

  • A base application of 150 lb N/acre was applied with streamer bars on May 8, 2021.

  • A total of 9 inches of irrigation was applied to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crop. 

  • Stalk lodging and final stand counts were taken just prior to harvest.

  • Plots were combine-harvested. Grain moisture content, test weight, and total weight were determined. Statistical analysis for Fisher’s LSD was performed. 

Table 1: Site Soil Test Information

image 1a.
image 1b.

Table 2. Management treatments

image

UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS

image Figure 1. Impact of Management treatments on average corn yield.

Impact on Yield 

  • Comparing the two systems, the low management (LM) system yielded about 24 bushels per acre less than the high management (HM) system. Most of the increase in yield resulted from the increase in the seeding rate from 32,000 to 40,000 seeds per acre with the HM system (Figure 1).
    • The additional seeds per acre improved yield 20 bushels per acre when comparing the yield of the LM treatment to the LM + Density treatment where seeding density was increased.
    • High management treatments responded similarly across all treatments except when seeding rate was decreased in the HM-Density treatment. The yield difference comparing the decreased density treatment to the other HM treatments was approximately 25 bushels per acre.
    • At $5.00 per bushel corn and a seed cost of $300 per 80K unit, the return on spending an extra $30.00 per acre on seed was over $100 dollars per acre in grain yield, which is very impactful.
    • Other treatments such as the application of Delaro® 325 SC fungicide and Delaro® Complete fungicide, and extra nitrogen added additional yield to the LM treatment, but the increases were not significant at the P>0.1 significance level.
    • Figure 2 shows corn ears gathered in 5 feet of 30-inch rows from different treatments in the study.  The different ear sizes illustrate the impact of increasing seeding rate on ear development. The corn product in this study showed very good ear size at both seeding rates, but 2 additional ears were present in 5 feet of row at the 40,000 seeds/acre seeding rate.
image Figure 2: Ears harvested in 5 ft. of row. Top 11 ears from corn planted at 40,000 seeds/acre in LM+Density treatment. Bottom 9 ears harvested from corn planted at 32,000 seeds/acre. Note very stable ear size even at the high seeding rate.
image Figure 3. Impact of management treatments on corn test weight in 2021.

 

Test Weight

  • Test weight only had a treatment range of 0.7 bu/acre over the entire trial, but there was some variation among the treatments (Figure 3).

  • Test weight was improved when the seeding rate was increased in the LM+Density treatment, but other input additions to the LM treatment did not change the grain test weight then compared to LM.

  • The HM treatment test weight was decreased when decreasing the seeding rate from the HM to the HM-Density treatment. Test weight was improved by removing the V6 fungicide application (HM-V6 Fung) compared to the HM treatment.

 

KEY LEARNINGS

  • Increasing the seeding rate from 32,000 seeds per acre to 40,000 seeds per acre had a large impact on yield and potential profitability with the corn product evaluated in this trial environment.

  • One of the main concerns with increasing seeding rates is late season stalk lodging.  However, no differences were seen in stalk lodging ratings in this study, and plants in all treatments averaged just under 1.5 on the rating scale (data not shown). 

  • An average 24 bu/acre yield increase was recorded for the High Management treatment with no additional inputs compared to the Low Management treatment with no additional inputs.

    Carefully weighing the cost of additional inputs to the expected returns is important in making economical decisions on the levels of management inputs, as grain prices and input prices fluctuate. 

 

 

 

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