Oakes Irrigation Research
Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2189, FAX: (701)
742-2700, email: rgreenla@ndsuext.nodak.edu
ORNAMENTAL CORN PERFORMANCE TRIAL, 1999
Richard Greenland and Leonard Besemann
Table 19. Early stand, maturity, and yield of corn.
Table 20. Stalk and ear characteristics of corn.
Ornamental corn is increasing in demand but the market is still small. It can be used for decorations or bird seed. In this trial we tested two ornamental corn hybrids to see how well adapted they were to North Dakota and to get an idea of possible yields.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
| Soil: | Embden sandy loam; pH=8.1; 2.6% organic matter; soil-P and soil-K were very high; soil-S was very low. |
| Previous crops: | 1998 - cabbage; 1997 - carrot; 1996 - soybean. |
| Seedbed preparation: | Disked on 26 October 1998. Disked April 26. Field cultivated twice, once on May 11 and once on May 12, to incorporate fertilizer and smooth seed bed. |
| Planting: | Planted May 12 in 30-inch rows. Planted at 26,000 seeds/acre. |
| Plots: | 17 ft long by 12.5 ft (5 rows) wide. There were 4 reps. |
| Fertilizer: | On April 7, broadcast 15 lbs N/acre and 75 lbs P2O5/acre as 10-50-0, 18 lbs N/acre and 20 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, and 99 lbs K20/acre as 0-0-60. Sprayed 50 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 on May 6. Knifed in 100 lbs of N/acre as 28-0-0 plus N-Serve (1 qt/acre) on June 9. |
| Irrigation: | Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed. |
| Pest Control: | Weeds were controlled by Dual + Cypro (1.5 pt + 1.5 lb/acre on May 13), cultivation (June 10), and by hand weeding. Sprayed Asana (8 oz/acre on June 29), Pounce (8 oz/acre on July 9) and chemigated Asana (8 oz/acre on July 21) for European corn borer control. |
| Harvest: | Hand harvested on October 4. |
American Way looked like a cross between Indian (flint) corn and dent corn. Kernels were very big, and some had a small dent in the top. Fiesta was a flint corn with very smooth kernels. Fiesta had slightly brighter colored kernels than American Way. At harvest, American Way still had milk in the kernels. Fiesta matured too early and the stalks had begun to deteriorate (lost leaves, looked dirty) by harvest. Fiesta stalks were reddish. Some of the Fiesta ears did not fill all the way to the tip.
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Table 19. Early stand, maturity, and yield of corn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 ornamental corn performance trial.
| Name | Seed source† | Early stand | Days to half-silk | Number of ears | Yield‡ | Comments | ||
| good | total | good | total | |||||
| 1000s/A | 1000s/acre | 1000s of lbs/A | ||||||
| American Way | SG | 25.9 | 76.5 | 6.9 | 15.9 | 4.7 | 7.7 | 30 to 70% lodged |
| Fiesta | TW | 25.6 | 61.5 | 13.6 | 20.8 | 4.6 | 6.0 | stalk tops broke off |
| C. V. (%) | 15 | 1 | 14 | 17 | 7 | 18 | ||
| Probability | 0.93 | 0.0001 | 0.007 | 0.11 | 0.62 | 0.14 | ||
†See Appendix A for seed source codes.
‡Yield of unshelled ears.
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Table 20. Stalk and ear characteristics of corn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 ornamental corn performance trial.
| Name | Seed source† | Stalk height | Stalk score | Husk colors | Kernel colors | Ear length | Ear diameter | Ear size | Overall score |
| feet | 1 to 10 | inches | oz/ear | 1 to 10 | |||||
| American Way | SG | 10.5 | 6.5 | cream white purple | calico, red, dark purple, orange, yellow | 9.0 | 1.9 | 11 | 6.6 |
| Fiesta | TW | 6.8 | 4.0 | purple cream | calico, dark red, dark purple, red, yellow, orange | 7.8 | 1.6 | 5 | 6.4 |
| C. V. (%) | 8 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 21 | |||
| Probability | 0.004 | 0.03 | 0.09 | 0.02 | 0.008 | 0.81 | |||
†See Appendix A for seed source codes.
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Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials
Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 annual report