Background

Florida’s Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) is a comprehensive framework for restoring water quality by reducing pollutant loading in water bodies. The Suwannee Valley region is home to 62 first- and second-magnitude springs and 113 lesser-magnitude springs. Agricultural fertilizer is the primary contributor (~68%) of nitrogen load, necessitating more efficient management practices. The goal of our Extension work is to reduce agricultural nitrogen load by 5.8 million pounds per year by 2035 in the Suwannee Valley region through the widespread adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs). The three most nitrogen-intensive crops in the Suwannee Valley region are:

1. hay (~80,000 acres),
2. corn (~50,000 acres), and
3. vegetables (~20,000 acres).

Farming has always been tricky. With quickly changing environmental conditions, increasing disease, pests and weed pressure, and environmental issues like leaching, it faces growing challenges every day. These conditions make the choice of variety and seed source very critical for our farmers. This BMP focused grain corn variety trial is designed to help our local farming community to look into various aspects of variety selection like yield and agronomic information and help in right variety selection for sustainable and profitable farming by minimizing crop loss.

Each year, our producers need help to determine which grain corn variety will best meet their economic needs. Factors we consider include field conditions, cultivation history and practices, irrigation, and pressures from weeds, diseases, pests, and nematodes. To give producers an opportunity to see this trial in action, UF/IFAS researchers were able to present this trial during the 2023 Corn Field Day hosted at NFREC-Suwannee Valley. Approximately 120 attendees made up of various industry representatives, researchers, extension agents, growers, etc., attended.

Objective

The Extension team at UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center – Suwannee Valley has conducted this grain corn variety trial. We kept Best Management Practices (BMPs) in focus to strike a balance between environmental stewardship and profitable farming. This ongoing trial enables local growers to observe the performance of various corn varieties under BMP-focused management specific to the Suwannee Valley region, providing valuable insights and informed recommendations for regional specific variety selection.

The BMPs implemented throughout this trial included grid soil sampling, variable-rate lime application, multispecies cover crops with legumes, strip tillage, adherence to the 4Rs of nutrient management (right source, right time, right place, and right rate), nitrogen management aids, weekly tissue sampling, fertigation, crop scouting, application of carbon sources and soil microbes, optimal irrigation water management using soil moisture probes, FAWN weather data, and 10-day NOAA weather forecasting.

Treatments

This trial featured eighteen grain corn varieties from nine different seed companies, with each treatment planted at a population density of 30,000 seeds per acre. The trial included four replications of each variety, with plot placement determined by randomized order. Before planting, the trial plots were sown with a multi-species blend cover crop consisting of oats, blue lupin, and winter pea, which was terminated about two weeks before planting the corn.

Varieties selected for the 2023 BMP grain corn trial at NFREC-SV:

Results

Below are the performance results of the varieties in the 2023 BMP grain corn variety trial. The information related to previous years trials is here: https://svaec.ifas.ufl.edu/crops/agronomic-crops/corn/. It includes planting dates, fertilization regimes, yields, and more.

Growers are encouraged to use this data to make informed decisions for a profitable grain corn crop. As seed companies develop new hybrids for grain corn each year, the regional BMP grain corn variety trial becomes increasingly important for providing local data to support better decision-making.

Varieties selected for the 2023 BMP grain corn trial at NFREC-SV.

2023 Results:

*Note: Values denoted by different letters are significantly different.

Best Management Practices – 2023 BMP Grain Corn Variety Trial 

Authors: Sydney Williams and Shivendra Kumar
Collaborators: Joel Love, Keith Wynn, Emily Beach, Sudeep Sidhu, and Kevin Korus

University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
North Florida Research and Education Center- Suwannee Valley
7580 County Road 136 Live Oak, FL 32060

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