Yield Monitors Could Hold Key To Improved Corn Productivity
ANDY ANDREWS J
Lancaster Farming Staff y
CARLISLE (Cumberland
Co.) Designer com may be
the “wave of the future.” But
the “wave of the present” is in
precision fanning.
Part of precision fanning is
using technology to observe
com yields as they are
harvested, according to Rob
Ratvasky, representative of
Hoober Equipment, at the com
growing segment at last week’s
Pennsylvania Crops
Conference.
Ratvasky presented a
demonstration of the operation
of yield monitor technology at
the conference.
Yield monitors are becoming
increasingly more precise and
reliable, according to Ratvasky,
and are working with existing
technology to more accurately
pinpoint yields on farms.
The heart of the technology
is a special "flow sensor” that
measures the amount of grain
taken off a field by the com
bine. Hoober and other equip
ment dealers are working with
manufacturers in using the
global positioning system
Rob Ratvasky, representative of Hoober Equip
ment, spoke about the effectiveness of combine yield
monitors at the crops conference.
Comparison Of IS- And
30-Inch Row Spadngs For
No-Till Corn Planted On
Drought-Prone Soils
Various references (Vogel,
1995 and Shoener 1995) report
from S to 10 percent yield
advantage when corn row
spacing is reduced from the
traditional 30-inch spacing.
Shoener, (1995) in his over
view of narrow row com pro
duction practices, presents sev
eral conflicting opinions. Data
from 1993 Penn State research
suggests that narrow row com
may not be suitable for shallow
soils or those subject to late
season moisture stress.
On-farm conditions in
Michigan shows a greater
response to narrow row spac
ing on poorer soils under poor
er growing conditions than on
better soils under more suitable
growing conditions. This pro
ject was designed to see if this
consensus on just what special
ized equipment is necessary for
narrow row com production.
The farmer already owned an
11 row 15-inch John Deere
7240 com planter. Would it be
possible to harvest 15-inch
rows with a 6-row 30-inch com
head?
The site was laid out on a
sloping field with Matapeake
silt loam soils with 2 to 5 per
cent slopes near the top and
5-10 percent slopes near the
bottom. The fanner considered
the top half of the field to be
“good” soils and the bottom
half to be poorer soils with
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Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 10,1996-Pay 39
(DdDM mi MIWS
(GPS) to more accurately
reflect what fields can provide
the best harvests.
In the future, using this infor
mation will help growers
“place the right variety on the
right field for maximum
yield,” said Ratvasky.
In one field day held in the
fall by Hoober, a “picture”
was provided of how well cer
tain fields harvested. However,
the data had to be more effec
tively “massaged” to produce
an accurate view because of the
complexities of field terrain
and other variables.
Growers can use this kind of
technology to “put what you
need where, rather than use one
treatment for the entire Held,”
he said. This could allow grow
ers to change the fertilization
and "other practices where it
will benefit you most.”
The details of woiking with
GPS are still being woriced out.
More accuracy now requires
more money spent on complex
equipment. Also, working with
the flow sensors can be difficult
much more gravel and less
water holding capacity. The
experiment was laid out as a
randomized complete block
design with plots running
along the slope. Plots were 465
feet long and 15 feet wide. Two
corn hybrids (Pioneer
3163-119 RM and Ciba
5190X-112RM) and two row
spacings (15 inches and 30
inches) were used giving a total
of four treatments which were
replicated four times.
Com was no-till planted on
April 26, 1995. Each plot had
six 30-inch rows or eleven
15-inch rows and seeding rates
of 27,100/acre and
26,800/acre, respectively. A
standard pre-emerge residual
and bum down herbicide prog
ram was used.
or call: 1-800-BDEKALB.
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
because of accumulations of
dirt in the combine, including
green material that "insulates
the fm and auger from the
sensor.”
One grower, Daryl Alger
from Palmyra, purchased a
yield monitor device to see how
it can help identify certain
fields in terms of productivity.
Alger was impressed with
the device. “It really showed
me things,” be said. “Where I
think I had good yields, there
wasn’t.”
Some of the challanges
Alger faced in harvest was the
difficulty with pokeweed
material in com and the sensor
devices. In harvesting soy
beans, there were problems
with green lambsquarters
material clogging up the flow
meter.
But. when working well,
Alger said he was “really
amazed at the accuracy” of the
monitor. But for growers, calib
ration is essential to provide
more accurate information.
Starter fertilizer was 40.7
#N/A, 40.7 #P/A. 13.6 #K/A.
2.7 #S/A, 0.14 #B/A, and 0.54
#Zn/A applied 'A banded and
'A dribbled over the row on the
six 30-inch rows. Com was
side dressed on June 8, 1995
with 100 #N/A as 30 percent
UAN solution dribbled every
30 inches by a custom applica
tor using a high clearance
sprayer with 60 foot booms.
The plots were arranged so that
the sprayer followed the
30-inch rows for each pass. In
an adjacent field planted to all
15-inch rows, there was little
damage observed from the
sidedress N application.
Although starter
and sidedress fertiliz
er were, applied only
to every*other 15-inch
row differences in
growth observed ear
ly in the season were
not observed by mid
summer. Plant popu
lation counts were
made in June and
averaged 24,416 for
30-inch rows and
25,083 for 15-inch
rows. When analyzed
by analysis of var
iance for a 2 by 2 fac
torial design, plant
population was not
significantly different
across blocks, row
spacing, or hybrids at
the 0.05 probability
level. Weed control
remained good
throughout the season
and no differences
were observed.
Plots were
harvested on October
11, 1995 with a John
Deere 7720 combine
and a 6-row 30-inch
com head. At plant
ing the com planter
(Turn to Pofl* 34)
Earning Our Way
On More
Of Your Acres.