Certain Hybrids Provide Higher Sweet Corn Yield

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.Higher yield and profitability of sweet corn are possible with greater plant populations of certain hybrids, according to a study published in the journal Field Crops Research. The findings may provide both growers and processors with relevant information on modern varieties to help them achieve maximum profits.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted research on the relationship between plant populations and profitability in processing sweet corn. They evaluated six widely used hybrids from Del Monte, Syngenta Seeds and Crookham Company that were planted under a wide range of plant populations and growing conditions. They investigated the relationships among different crop traits and found increasing plant populations affected crop growth and development in plausible ways.

Increasing plant populations increased canopy density and light capture, delayed silk emergence, and reduced filled ear length and recovery. Recovery, or the percentage of ear mass that's represented by kernel mass, varied and ranged between 32% to 38% among hybrids. Higher recovery reduces processors' costs because less volume of corn is handled. Across all environments, plant populations to maximize yield differed by more than 9,000 plants per acre among the hybrids.

The average plant population of the six hybrids23,500 plants per acrewould not be enough to maximize yield for some varieties, but would be too much for others, the researchers said. None of the hybrids came close to optimal plant populations of field corn, which in recent reports from the upper Midwest, range from 32,000 to 35,000 plants per acre.

"The sweet corn hybrid itself has a major effect on profitability," they said. "The gross profit margin to processors varied $1,500 an acre among hybrids. If I were growing sweet corn under contract, I'd want to know the hybrid, since profit to the grower varied as much $211 per acre among the varieties we tested."

The researchers said one of the challenges was the top-performing hybrids looked nothing alike, nor was it clear exactly why they had better stress tolerance to higher populations. More research is needed to provide sweet corn breeders with this information.

"We compared these results to plant populations observed in growers' fields throughout Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin," they said. "We found evidence that higher profit, to growers and processors alike, is possible with greater plant populations of certain hybrids."