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

'SUPERSWEET' SWEETCORN HYBRID PERFORMANCE TRIAL

Richard Greenland, Leonard Besemann and Heidi Eslinger

Table 40. Harvest data for baby corn

Table 41. Baby corn ear characteristics

Table 42. Corn development, ear height and ear removal score

Table 43. Number of ears per acre and yield

Table 44. Husk characteristics of sh₂ sweetcorn

Table 45. Ear characteristics of sh₂ sweetcorn

Sweetcorn grows very well in this area of North Dakota. The short summer is compensated for by long days and lots of sunshine. In our trials, sweetcorn has always matured before frost. In this trial, in addition to testing sweetcorn harvested at the regular time, we also tested sweetcorn for harvest as baby corn and the effects of harvesting secondary ears as baby corn on the yield of regular sweetcorn.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil:	Embden sandy loam; pH=6.5; 3.0% organic matter; soil-P and soil-K were very high; soil-S was low.
Previous crops:	2002 - pepper, winter squash, pumpkin; 2001 - field corn, soybean; 2000 - edible bean, potato.
Seedbed preparation:	Disk April 28. Multiweeded (field cultivated) May 16 to incorporate fertilizer and smooth seed bed.
Planting:	Seeded on May 16 in 30-inch rows. Planting depth was about 1 inch. Seeding rate was 50,000 seeds/acre. Stand was later thinned to 24,500 plants/acre.
Plots:	Plots were 15 ft (6 rows) wide by 17 ft long. There were 4 reps.
Fertilizer:	On April 9, broadcast 11 lbs N/acre and 52 lbs P₂0₅ as 11-52-0, 30 lbs K₂O as 0-0-60 and 18 lbs N/acre and 20 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24. Sprayed 20 lbs N/acre as 32-0-0 on April 28. Knifed in 100 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 + Agrotain (2.4 qt/ton) on June 18.
Irrigation:	Surface drip irrigation as needed.
Pest Control:	Gramaxone + COC + Outlook + Aatrex (2 pt + 1qt/25 gal + 1pt + 0.5 lb (ai)/acre on May 20), one cultivation (June 18), and hand weeding controlled weeds. Sprayed Asana (8 oz/acre on July 8) to control European corn borer and corn earworm.
Harvest:	Secondary ears of one of the two center rows of each plot were harvested as baby corn from July 21 to July 30 (at a growth stage of initial silking to 2 days after silking). Primary ears and secondary ears of marketable size from both of the two center rows were hand harvested Aug 12 to Aug 18; 23 to 25 days after half-silk date.

RESULTS

Most hybrids had good yield and quality. Tahoe was the best looking. BSS 1690 had the highest yields. Harvesting secondary ears as baby corn slightly reduced yields of marketable ears. For the baby corn, BSS 0977 had the highest yield.

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Table 40. Harvest data for baby corn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2003 supersweet baby corn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Days to harvest	Harvest spread²	Number of ears		Yield
Hybrid	Seed source¹	Days to harvest	Harvest spread²	unhusked	husked	unhusked	husked
		Days	Days	----- 1000s per acre -----		--------- lbs/acre --------

Bicolor Saturn	SW	69	8	12.0	11.3	1829	308
BSS 0977	RG	70	8	21.3	19.5	3870	513
BSS 1690	RG	68	5	7.9	7.2	1508	219
GSS 0966	RG	71	7	17.7	16.7	3177	425
Tahoe	RG	71	5	11.5	11.0	2175	294

Probability		0.0001	0.005	0.0002	0.0007	<0.0001	0.004
LSD (0.05)		1	2	4.5	4.7	717	135
C.V. (%)		1	18	21	23	19	25

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

²Days from first harvest to last harvest.

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Table 41. Baby corn ear characteristics for the 2003 Oakes Irrigation Research Site supersweet baby corn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Ear weight		Ear length	Ear diameter	Appearance	Overall
Hybrid	Seed source¹	unhusked	husked	Ear length	Ear diameter	Appearance	Overall
		------ ounces/ear -------		----------- inches ---------		1 to 5	1 to 10

Bicolor Saturn	SW	2.4	0.44	3.8	0.59	3.7	7.1
BSS 0977	RG	2.9	0.42	3.6	0.58	4.0	7.0
BSS 1690	RG	3.0	0.48	4.0	0.56	3.6	7.3
GSS 0966	RG	2.9	0.41	3.7	0.59	3.8	7.3
Tahoe	RG	3.1	0.43	3.6	0.58	3.8	7.5

Probability		0.34	0.16	0.0004	0.47	0.07	0.13
LSD (0.05)		—	—	0.14	—	—	—
C.V. (%)		16	9	2	4	4	3

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

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Table 42. Corn development, ear height, ear removal score, lodging and green snap percentages for sweetcorn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2003 supersweet sweetcorn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Early stand²	Days to half-silk	Days to harvest	Ear height³	Ear removal⁴	Lodging	Green Snap
		1000s/A			inches	1 to 10	%	%

Bicolor Saturn	SW	33.1	65 a	88 a	22.5 b	6.5	15 b	11 ab
BSS 0977	RG	34.6	67 b	89 a	27.0 a	5.5	8 a	15 b
BSS 1690	RG	35.0	65 a	88 a	19.5 b	5.8	5 a	8 a
GSS 0966	RG	31.9	69 c	90 b	29.3 a	5.5	6 a	16 b
Tahoe	RG	31.6	70 d	92 c	28.8 a	6.3	5 a	16 b

Probability		0.41	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	0.12	<0.0001	0.03
C.V. %		9	1	1	6	10	24	29

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

²Corn was over planted. After stand count, corn was thinned to about 28,000 plants/acre.

³Distance from ground to base of ear.

⁴Indicates ease of ear removal. The higher the score, the easier it was to remove the ear.

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Table 43. Number of ears per acre and yield of sweetcorn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2003 supersweet sweetcorn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Unhusked				Husked
		marketable		total		marketable		total
		ears	yield	ears	yield	ears	yield	ears	yield
		1000s/A	tons/A	1000s/A	tons/A	1000s/A	tons/A	1000s/A	tons/A

Bicolor Saturn	SW	23.8 b	9.6 c	27.4	10.3 b	23.1 b	6.1 bc	27.4	6.7 bc
BSS 0977	RG	32.8 a	11.2 ab	34.3	11.6 ab	31.8 a	7.1 ab	34.3	7.5 ab
BSS 1690	RG	26.1 b	11.9 a	27.7	12.3 a	24.6 b	7.6 a	27.7	8.1 a
GSS 0966	RG	24.6 b	9.8 bc	26.6	10.2 b	22.5 b	5.7 c	26.6	6.2 c
Tahoe	RG	27.2 b	10.8 abc	29.7	11.3 ab	26.1 ab	6.8 abc	29.7	7.2 abc

Probability		0.012	0.03	0.12	0.1	0.03	0.02	0.12	0.02
C.V. (%)		12	9	14	10	15	11	14	10

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

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Table 44. Husk characteristics of sweetcorn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2003 supersweet sweetcorn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Husk color²	Distance husk over tip³	Husk tightness⁴	Percent short shank	Husk Overall score
		1 to 3	inches	1 to 3	%	1 to 10

Bicolor Saturn	SW	2.1	1.4 ab	2.4 ab	54	7.5 a
BSS 0977	RG	2.0	1.7 a	2.5 a	84	7.8 a
BSS 1690	RG	2.0	0.6 c	1.8 c	84	6.5 b
GSS 0966	RG	2.1	0.9 bc	2.4 ab	69	7.5 a
Tahoe	RG	2.0	0.6 c	1.9 bc	80	6.5 b

Probability		0.44	0.004	0.02	0.07	0.014
C.V. (%)		7	36	15	21	8

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

²Color of husk. 1 to 3 is light to dark green.

³The distance the husk extends beyond the end of the ear.

⁴How tight husk is around ear. 1 = loose; 3 = tight.

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Table 45. Ear characteristics of sweetcorn in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2003 supersweet sweetcorn performance trial.

Hybrid	Seed source¹	Ear length	Ear diameter	Average rows of kernels	Tip unfilled	Tip shape²	Kernel color	Kernel yellow intensity³	Ear overall score
		-------- inches --------			inches	1 to 3		1 to 3	1 to 10

Bicolor Saturn	SW	8.0 bc	1.88 a	15.0 b	0.0	1.5	bi	2.0 a	7.4
BSS 0977	RG	7.8 c	1.70 c	17.5 a	0.0	1.5	bi	1.6 b	7.3
BSS 1690	RG	9.0 a	1.87 a	15.0 b	0.0	1.6	bi	2.0 a	8.0
GSS 0966	RG	7.9 c	1.75 bc	17.0 a	0.0	1.5	y	2.0 a	7.8
Tahoe	RG	8.2 b	1.84 ab	18.0 a	0.0	1.5	w	—	7.5

Probability		<0.0001	0.005	0.003	—	0.44		0.005	0.31
C.V. (%)		3	3	6	—	7		7	7

¹See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

²Tip shape: 1 is pointed; 2 is blunt; 3 is double or flat.

³Gives darkness of yellow kernels on ear. 1 = light yellow; 2 = medium yellow; 3 = dark yellow.