Nine decades of independent trials

URBANA, Ill. — This marks the 90th year the University of Illinois Variety Testing will provide unbiased, third-party performance evaluations free for farmers.

Results of the annual corn and soybean trials will be published in the Nov. 29 issue of Illinois AgriNews and include yield data, as well as soybean protein and oil contents, across the state’s diverse geography.

Trials were conducted in DeKalb, Freeport, Monmouth, Goodfield, Belleville, St. Peter, the Orr Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center near Perry and U of I’s South Farm at Urbana.

There were 168 soybean varieties and 157 corn hybrids in this year’s trials in a variety of maturities, including various trait packages, seed treatments, non-GMO hybrids and corn-after-corn plots.

Yields

“Corn was very good. I would say the best overall location yield was probably Goodfield. The early relative maturities averaged 280 and the other maturities averaged 283,” said Clay Harper, U of I senior research specialist.

“I had a few yields, not necessarily at every location, but I have a few yields at most of the locations that were over 300 for a plot. I was pretty happy with that.

“I would say soybeans were average to a little above average. They weren’t spectacular yields, but they weren’t terrible yields, either.”

The 2.4 to 3.2 maturities at Goodfield averaged 79.8 bushels per acre, and the 3.3 to 4.2 at that location averaged 82.7, tops across all trials.

“The first soybeans planted were at the Orr Center. They got a rain shortly after planting. It crusted and we had a few emergence issues and for some of it we had to go back and replant later on. That was the worst in terms of location quality and that was totally weather related,” Harper said.

“In most years, if you had planted the soybeans when we planted them, you would have been fine, but it got cooler and wet and it dried quick enough that it crusted and caused some problems.”

Pests

Harper didn’t see any disease or insect issues in general.

“We did have a fair bit of weed issues, but that is somewhat to be expected because all of the locations have to be treated as if they are non-GMO. So, we don’t have a lot of herbicide options to use there,” Harper said.

“We walked beans at almost every location and I cultivated a lot of the soybean locations, two or three of them more than once.

“We were able to be respectable at harvest, in my opinion, with the weed control, but it took a fair bit of work. It being my first year, I learned a little bit more about cultivation. Row cultivation is going to be critical going forward in the soybeans.”

Planting

As with most other farmers, planting season got off to a rocky start and was extended in the trials.

“It was delayed a just little bit from what I would consider to be a normal planting window. That was mainly due to the weather. In late April, we planted the corn at Monmouth and at the Orr Center near Perry,” Harper said.

“Then we were out for a couple of weeks, and then we were able to get the soybeans planted at the Orr Center. We were then out for another week or so and were then basically able to do the rest in about a week.”

Soybean Content

The Illinois Soybean Association has designated checkoff dollars to support the trials so that farmers continue reaping the value of unbiased variety data.

Funding helped purchase combine technology that can record protein and oil content metrics automatically, streamlining the data collection process so varietal performance results are quickly available.

“The Illinois Soybean Association has been generous to help sponsor that data. This was the second year that protein and oil content data was collected on the combine,” Harper said.

Independent Trials

The Variety Testing have been a popular go-to for farmers looking for hybrids and varieties for their locations based non-biased data.

“This importance of this program is the fact that it’s non-biased. We take the entries that are given to us and the computer program that we use randomizes the location of each variety in the plot area. It’s replicated three times,” Harper said.

“We’re not cherry-picking and say this area of the field is a little wetter so we don’t want to put the ones there that might yield better there. It’s wherever it goes it goes and whatever happens happens.

“Farmers that I have talked to really like that we’re in multiple locations and that we don’t bias results towards a particular company to try to make them win or whatever.”