Crop Sciences

AGRI-NEWS - Issue 22 - 01, January, 2001

• Coming Events
• December Summary
• Weather
• Crop Report
• Research Results
• Corn/Grain Sorghum Study, 2000

Coming Events

• Jan. 15 - Office Closed M L King Day
• Mar. 8 - ORR Corp. Annual Meeting

Weather: How does one briefly summarize this past year after witnessing all the strange events that occurred? December is logged into the record books as being the 2nd coldest since 1979 for High Air temperatures, and the 3rd coldest for night time lows, behind 1983, and 1989. We also ranked 2nd in snowfall received during the month behind 1997. We recorded 19 precipitation events with 18 of them as snow. We had 19 days when the High was still less than 32 degrees, and we recorded 11 days when the Low was equal to or less than zero degrees. Snow and ice have been in place since Dec. 1, and the overall depth at this writing is about 5 inches of the combination.

Crop Report: With a snow cover, we normally would think the winter wheat and alfalfa would be protected from the extreme cold, however, when we combine snow with ice, we may see a different scenario played out in that suffocation might occur in the alfalfa and wheat plots. Several years ago, we had an ice storm and we had to drive across the alfalfa plots to break the ice loose from the plants. I'm not to sure if that procedure actually helped, but it allowed us to try something. Soil moisture deficits are still present. However, some surface is moving into the lower profile. With soil temperatures hovering around freezing, any snow melt should soak into the surface. The flaw with this statement is that we need temperatures above freezing to commence the thaw!

Research Results: Corn / Grain Sorghum Comparisons: Last spring, when it appeared that we just might have a drought facing us we designed a study to look at how well grain sorghum (milo) would withstand a long dry period as compared to corn. Our intentions were good and it was dry, however, the timeliness of the rain events precluded any "dry periods". We planted two milo numbers (Golden Harvest H512C, and Pioneer 8522Y) across 3 nitrogen rates of 45, 90, and 135 lbs/A N, and compared these to a Pioneer 33P67 corn hybrid with 135, 180, 225 lbs/A N rates. Planting date was May 5, which was optimum for corn and early for milo. From the table below, we see that corn performed quite well considering the amount of rainfall we got during the season. Looking at the actual conversion of nitrogen into grain, we see that 45 lbs/A N in the H512C milo variety gave a 3.29 bu return for each pound of N applied. We saw a tremendous conversion of organic matter to usable nutrients this year in all of our N-Rate studies.

The 135 lb/A N rate for corn produced a 1.55 bu return for each pound of N applied. However, when looking at the "bottom line" or net returns, corn, this year, gave a higher dollar return than did milo. If we looked at possible yields that would be more realistic for the area, corn (144 bu/A with 180 lb/A N) would be slightly less than milo (130 bu/A with 90 lbs/A N) in total net dollars. New data in this area needs to be gathered before any "real" conclusions are formed. Should N prices become ridiculously high, then we may see producers looking at alternative sources of nitrogen, and the level of management in N application will be escalated along with some modifications in farming practices. Drs. Hoeft and Nafziger put together a "white paper" on the concepts surrounding higher N prices for 2001. Contact your CES office for a copy of this report. It is titled "Getting The Most From Your 2001 Nitrogen Dollars".

Corn/Grain Sorghum Study, 2000

This study will be conducted again in 2001 to see if milo can compete with corn, and utilize lower inputs of N. Older data from the Orr Center suggests that when properly managed, milo can be competitive with corn, given dry growing conditions during the year.

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