Evaluation of DEKALB® Brand Corn Products in the South

TRIAL OBJECTIVE

• Each season the Bayer Learning Center at Scott, Mississippi evaluates market leading DEKALB® brand corn products for adaptability to the southern corn growing region.
• These experiments are conducted at Scott on different alluvial delta soil types. The Buckshot site is heavy clay, and the Highway site is deep sandy soil.
• Yield potential and plant characteristics (height, ear size) are important factors to consider when selecting corn products.

RESEARCH SITE DETAILS

• All field work, tillage, and herbicides were conducted per local standards
• 250 lb nitrogen applied to both experiments as liquid 30-0-0-2.5

• The trial used non-replicated strip plots.
• Plot sizes:
  • Buckshot Field: six-row plots, each 700 ft long
  • Highway Field: six-row plots, each 450 ft long
• Yield data for both Buckshot and Highway Field was calculated using a commercial combine via whole plot harvest and corrected to 15.5% moisture content.
  

UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS

• Trials averaged 92% stand establishment post emergence.
• Buckshot (heavy clay) – Average yields for 2023 were exceptional in this environment, with an average of 195 bu/acre across the study. Several products yielded in the range of 200 bu/acre (Figure 1), indicating DEKALB® brand has a robust offering of corn products for heavy clay soils.
• Highway Field (deep sand) – Average yields at the Highway location were greater than at the Buckshot location, with an average of 253 bu/acre for Highway Field. Additionally, the top-end yields in this environment for 2023 were in the 280 bu/acre range, with 8 of 12 products demonstrating yields greater than 250 bu/acre (Figure 1).
• Several of the newest products demonstrated outstanding yield potential while older products, such as DEKALB® DKC65-99 brand, remained solid performers in both environments.
  

KEY LEARNINGS

• The results of this trial demonstrate that specific DEKALB® brand corn products can produce yields between 195 and 253 bu/acre on average in heavy clay and deep sand, respectively. These are two of the diverse soil types of the Mississippi Delta.
• Growers should consider their personal preferences and corn product yield potential interaction with local planting conditions when selecting a corn product for the 2024 growing season.
• Please contact your local DEKALB® brand representative for more information.