Improving Corn Hybrid Management in Ontario
June 26, 2012
CanAdvance
With $69,077 in funding, the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) developed this project to build on datasets in the Agronomy Handbook (OMAFRA Publication 811) to ensure accurate recommendations are produced for growers. Current recommendations on making a decision to replant a poor stand of corn were derived from data collected in Illinois, and the researchers set out to determine if the Agronomy Handbook guidelines were accurate for Ontario’s growing conditions. Conducted from 2008 to 2010, there were two objectives developed for this project: to identify the most cost effective corn replant scenarios based on planting date, populations, and hybrid characteristics for growers in Ontario, and to transfer this information into recommendations using a web-based decision tool; and secondly to develop economic management strategies and decision models for fungicide application to corn using an array of commercial hybrids.
Results from the replant study showed differences in yield response among combinations of hybrid, planting date, and population compared to the Illinois dataset. These differences were significant and warranted changes to the current recommendations for replanting decisions in the Agronomy Handbook. In fact, research on replant decisions continued through the Farm Innovation Program (FIP) as a result of this study, and a corn replant tool will be available to growers in 2012 at www.gocorn.net.
Results from the foliar fungicide study indicate that predictive models for fungicide use in corn should include the effect of hybrids; however, the results generated by this study were determined to be inconclusive with only two years of data. This research topic was also explored further through funding under the FIP program and updated results can be found on the GFO website at www.gfo.ca/research.
Investment in this project was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Adaptation Programming and administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council.
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