Summary of the 2011 Corn Performance Results

Published: December 21, 2011

The MU Variety Testing Program has provided Missouri farmers with unbiased corn hybrid comparisons for 74 years. This year, 212 hybrids from 34 brands were entered into our tests. Only six of those hybrids possessed no biotechnology traits. Stacked biotechnology traits have become common. Over 20% of the hybrids possessed resistance to both glyphosate and glufosinate herbicides plus at least one trait for both above ground and below ground insect resistance.

As with Missouri farmers, weather greatly affected our ability to plant locations and our resulting yields. Planting at almost every location was delayed and/or seedling growth was slow because of cool, wet weather in April and May. For example, planting date for Columbia was June 6. Two locations were abandoned. Craig, in the North Region, was flooded by the Missouri River for the second straight year. Truxton, in the Central Region, was first replanted and then abandoned because of unacceptable stands.

For many locations, weather turned dry and warm in June, July, and August. The hardest hit region was Southwest. Many farmers abandoned fields completely or harvested them for silage instead of grain. Location average yields ranged from 225 to 82 bushels/acre. The power of irrigation was illustrated in the Southwest region. The three non-irrigated test locations averaged 94.7 bushels/acre, whereas, the three irrigated locations yield 165.7 bushels/acre. A summary of yield results from all locations are presented in the following table. Full results can be found at http://varietytesting.missouri.edu