{"id":1218,"date":"2017-11-03T21:11:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T21:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?p=1218"},"modified":"2017-12-07T19:40:01","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T19:40:01","slug":"crop-testing-program-hybrid-trial-results-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2017\/11\/03\/crop-testing-program-hybrid-trial-results-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Crop Testing Program Hybrid Trial Results\u20142017"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.ed<\/a><\/p>\n

Katrina Horn, Crop Testing Program director, (806) 845-8505, khorn@tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Ron Schnell, Cropping Systems Extension Agronomy, College Station, (979) 845-2935, ronschnell@tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

A unit of Texas A&M AgriLife is the Crop Testing Program, http:\/\/varietytesting.tamu.edu\/<\/a>, which has been functioning for over 40 years.\u00a0 The program offers fee-based public testing of corn, grain sorghum, and sunflower hybrids and one large forage sorghum silage trial.\u00a0 The above webpage also publishes data from other AgriLife crop trials conducted outside the auspices of the Crop Testing Program.\u00a0 These include wheat, other small grains grain and forage trials, winter canola, and cotton.<\/p>\n

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The Crop Testing Program blankets the state for these fee-based tests for corn, grain sorghum, and the High Plains region for sunflower.\u00a0 To review the recent reports, click on the main page menu item for the crop of interest.<\/p>\n

How are these trials conducted?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, these are fee-based entries, which companies have committed to fund the work and the public reporting of the data.\u00a0 All data is published, and companies do not have a say in what these reports state.\u00a0 These are independent trials.\u00a0 They are conducted mostly on-farm, but a few may be located on a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Station.\u00a0 Though farmers sometimes express reservations about small plot work, this method is reliable for determining crop yield in a controlled setting.\u00a0 Small plot research sites are set out using a math\/statistical design to minimize other factors that may influence results.\u00a0 Thus, results are highly likely due to genetic differences in the hybrids with minimal influence from other factors.\u00a0 Also, small plots allow AgriLife to conduct testing on a far greater number of hybrid entries, perhaps 30 or more.\u00a0 Conducting the same work on large plots (replicated field strip trials) is far more expensive, no more reliable, time consuming, interferes with farmer\u2019s harvest, and often there is not enough seed available for these tests (in the case of experimentals).<\/p>\n

In addition, Texas A&M AgriLife eventually calculates three-year trial averages<\/u> when possible and adds these to the main report.<\/p>\n

Current Reporting for the 2017 Cropping Season<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of the corn and grain sorghum trial sites have been published.\u00a0 In addition, on each crop page to the lower right is a link to archived data from previous years.\u00a0 The following is 2017 crop and trial sites, reported to date as of November 2:<\/p>\n

Corn grain hybrid trials:<\/u><\/p>\n