The Purdue Crop Performance Program has issued its 2015 corn and soybean bulletin, a resource to help Indiana farmers select the most effective hybrids for their specific growing conditions.
The bulletin includes comparative performance data for more than 160 corn and 160 soybean varieties collected from 21 trials at 13 test plots throughout the state during the past growing season.
Results from the previous year are also included, allowing farmers to compare hybrid performance over time.
“This kind of information can have a huge impact,” said Phil DeVillez, director of the crop performance program. “Farmers want to look for consistency in performance, consistency across a variety of soil types, under different management practices.”
Overall, the hybrids and varieties tested in the Purdue trials this year produced better than expected yields after last summer’s record rains and flooding, DeVillez said.
“We were pleasantly surprised,” he said. “Soybeans were especially strong, but we did lose some corn, especially in the northern part of the state where the heaviest rains and flooding hit.”
DeVillez said farmers should consider a wide range of factors when selecting their seed type and base their decisions on which types performed best in management styles similar to their own.
“Making decisions based on one location or trial can be very misleading and ultimately hurt a producer’s bottom line,” DeVillez said. “We recommend looking at multiple locations and multiple years of data.”
In addition to the statewide bulletin, the Purdue Crop Performance Program also provides a multistate database search program for corn andsoybeans. Farmers across the Midwest can compare results of different seed varieties from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan.
“Growing conditions can be similar across state lines, and the multistate database provides farmers an additional tool for evaluating performance,” DeVillez said.
The 2015 Indiana Corn and Soybean Performance Trial Bulletin is available online here.
