Choosing a corn hybrid to plant can be a daunting decision, especially when basing your selection on accessible performance data. Farmers and consultants are often tasked with having to navigate several web pages or sites looking for timely information. Recently, the Kansas Corn Commission funded a project to collect corn performance trial data, along with any research/on-farm yield data conducted in Kansas, to develop an online hybrid selection tool. The 2017 Kansas corn yield performance data from replicated variety trials was used for initial development of the tool, and is available for public viewing at myfields.info/crop-data.
The new tool allows for easy hybrid comparisons based on the user’s location of interest. By aggregating plot trial data into one online tool, producers will soon be able to easily access performance data across years and locations of interest. The inclusion of on-farm data will enhance understanding of performance under varying management practices
To use the application, visit www.myfields.info and follow these steps:
- Select the “Demonstration Plot Data” button from the home-screen (Figure 1, graphic A).
- Select the most relevant plot location (red circles) within the map (Figure 1, graphic B) to view performance data.
- In the plot data view (Figure 1, graphic C), the highest yielding corn hybrids are presented at the top of the list, which also displays an average county yield; this allows the user to quickly compare how their own yields measure up to plot averages.
As the project progresses, KSRE agents and specialists will be able to collect, organize, and upload standardized data to myfields.info website for viewing.
Figure 1. Examples of the myFields.info corn hybrid selection tool.
Continued tool development will expand the ability to explore hybrids by displaying yields in a simple graphic format. As a result, the user will be able to view hybrid yields across rating years, thus helping support the decision-making process by comparing yields in variable field conditions. Current plans are to expand the decision-support tool into other corn applications such as recommendations for corn rotation into other cropping system frameworks. We encourage you to explore the tool at myfields.info to see 2017 Kansas Corn performance data. Please direct any questions or suggestions to site coordinator, Dr. Wendy Johnson at wendyann@ksu.edu.
This project is led by K-State researchers: Ignacio Ciampitti and Yared Assefa Mulisa (Department of Agronomy); and Brian McCornack and Wendy Johnson (Department of Entomology). The project team also collaborated with Jane Lingenfelser, agronomist and Kansas Crop Performance Tests Coordinator (Department of Agronomy).
The myFields decision support system was launched in 2014 through financial support by the USDA-Extension Implementation Program. The web-based application is designed to deliver integrated Extension information and related content to stakeholders using dynamic features, which includes interactive tools and resources that link together information from different agriculture-centric disciplines. Learn more about our other site features here: www.myfields.info/features.
Brian McCornack, Extension Entomologist
mccornac@ksu.edu
Ignacio Ciampitti, Crop Production and Cropping Systems Specialist
ciampitti@ksu.edu
Tags: corn hybrids hybrid corn