Starter Fertilizer Plot - Corn

Earlier this fall, we harvested a corn test plot that had comparisons of liquid starter fertilizer vs no liquid starter fertilizer. We did it on five different hybrids and had two checks per hybrid. The results were surprising. Two of the hybrids showed no yield increase at all, two showed very high yield returns, and one was somewhat neutral. Here are the results:

Pioneer P0533am1
- No starter - 205.6 bu/a - 20.6% - 54.3#
- Starter      - 228.2 bu/a - 24.4% - 56.0#
- Starter      - 230.8 bu/a - 25.9% - 54.6#
- No starter - 211.9 bu/a - 26.2% - 54.7#

Pioneer P9675amx
- No starter - 224.5 bu/a - 20.5% - 56.7#
- Starter      - 221.3 bu/a - 19.1% - 57.1#
- Starter      - 224.1 bu/a - 19.8% - 56.7#
- No starter - 223.6 bu/a - 19.7% - 56.0#

Pioneer P9910am1
- No starter - 222.0 bu/a - 22.7% - 54.8#
- Starter      - 207.1 bu/a - 23.2% - 53.1#
- Starter      - 231.8 bu/a - 22.7% - 54.0#
- No starter - 235.2 bu/a - 21.8% - 53.7#

Pioneer P9630am1
- No starter - 218.2 bu/a - 22.7% - 54.6#
- Starter      - 236.5 bu/a - 21.9% - 55.4#
- Starter      - 238.7 bu/a - 21.4% - 55.2#
- No starter - 245.7 bu/a - 22.1% - 55.2#

Pioneer P0062xr
- No starter - 208.1 bu/a - 24.2% - 53.2#
- Starter      - 227.3 bu/a - 25.4% - 53.0#
- Starter      - 242.7 bu/a - 24.7% - 52.7#
- No starter - 234.2 bu/a - 24.1% - 52.6#

The results of the P0062 and the P0533 were 15-20 bu/a increases, the P9910 and the P9675 were absolutely no increased yields, and the P9630 had both an increase and a decrease. Obviously there was a hybrid variation in response to fertilizer. NDSU had a replicated study on this subject so I will put that in the blog here when I get my hands on the results.