My eight year old son brought this science test home from his grade three class. I have to admit, I was floored! I know it was a while after grade three that I learned the difference between a monocot and a dicot!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Always Learning
Pioneer has released it's 2012 Agronomy Sciences Research Summary. Information for the guide is gathered from across North America. There are 47 pages of agronomy gold in it.
Some of the articles I found most interesting:
1) Stress Emergence in Corn.
The optimal temperature for corn emergence is in the range of 80-90F When a dry seed imbibes (takes on) cold water 50F or below, there is an increase in seed death and abnormalities. A seed will imbibe most of the water it needs for germination within the first 30 minutes it is exposed to moisture. Therefor, even if you plant the seed into cool dry soil and it turns cold and wet 5 days later, there will still be more emergence stress response than if the seed has a chance to imbibe warmer water for a few hours and then it turns cold.
2) Optimizing Corn Seeding Rates
Since 2008 the % of acres in North America with seeding rates above 33,000 seed/ac has gone from 19% to almost 35% in 2012. Pioneer continues to do extensive work with their hybrids to determine the most economic planting rate (MEPR) by hybrid. This work includes an evaluation of different yield potentials. For example, the MEPR for 38N94 in a 150bus/ac or less environment is 32,900seed/ac while in a 150-200bus/ac environment the MEPR is 36,000. You can find the Seeding rate calculator on the Pioneer website or you can now download an App as well.
3) Variation in Corn Yield Across Planter Width.
As planters get larger, Pioneer has started to study the effect of width on corn yield across the rows. Trials in Minnesota found that the average corn yield on the outside wing were significantly greater than those from the centre by an average of 11.3 bus. This yield difference is a function of the compaction caused by the wheel traffic. Why this is important to consider is when planning side by sides or plots with large planters, steps need to be taken to ensure that the results are not unfairly biased due to the differential impact of wheel traffic among the rows.
This is just a sampling of the 24 articles found in the Agronomy guide. If you are interested in a copy, pleased let me know.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Corn In, Meat Out
Pioneer has ranked their entire North American lineup for the Pork and Poultry market by developing and testing for HAE products (High Available Energy).
Not all kernels of corn are the same. Below is a graph of a sample of different hybrids and their digestibility.
There can be a spread of as much as 6% in the digestible energy between two different hybrids. Think of that in the difference of feed that you need to put in front of the animal to satisfy their caloric intake.
So other than a large scale feeding trial, how do we know what the better hybrid is? After years of research with feeding trials and calibration, Pioneer has developed a quick 50 second test using Near Infrared Transmittance (NIRT) to determine the digestible energy in a hybrid sample. The result is a list of Pioneer's HAE products. Here is a link to that list:
https://www.pioneer.com/CMRoot/Pioneer/US/products/corn/end_use/state_pdfs/NAS_HAE_2011.pdf
As a pork or poultry producer, you now have one more tool in the toolbox to select the best hybrid for your operation. You still need to balance the agronomics (GIB tolerance, yield, etc) with energy output but the HAE products from Pioneer keep you an extra step ahead.
For more information on the HAE products and testing, here is a link to Pioneer's website:
https://www.pioneer.com/home/site/ca/products/end-use/hae
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