Corn Hybrid Testing Program, North Dakota State University

Procedures of and results from the corn hybrid testing program in eastern North Dakota. This page also contains a link to the corn hybrid entry application for those companies wishing to enter hybrids into the trial program and to the results of other hybrid trials conducted by Research Extension Centers within the North Dakota State University Experiment Station system.

Tractor and planter used for establishing corn hybrid plots Purpose

The purpose of this site is to provide information on the comparative performance of corn hybrids based on the data from replicated hybrid trials in various regions of North Dakota and adjoining areas in Minnesota. Research has demonstrated the value of using data from multiple locations and years in selecting a hybrid. The primary focus of this site to provide information for the hybrid testing program conducted by researchers located on the main campus of NDSU. Links will be provided to all corn hybrid trials conducted by the Research Extension Centers and the NDSU Extension publication "North Dakota Corn Hybrid Performance Results", which summarizes the corn hybrid trial results for all of the state. The precision planter used in establishing the plots, which was provided by the North Dakota Corn Council, is pictured on the right.

New to the program in 2017 is a pair of drones. Our primary one, an ATI Agbot, nicknamed 'Hal', is equipped with a MicaSense RedEdge camera, while and 'Lil Hal', a DJI Phantom 4, has a Sentera NIR camera, and a color camera for taking photos and video. Both cameras allow us to monitor crop health throughout the season and scout plots on a real time basis to more quickly identify areas of the field that may have problems. In turn, we can then use the images captured and stitched together, import them into a GIS software, and compare plots using NDVI data and statistical analysis. (click here for a video of Hal in action)