Traited Corn Proving Its Worth Even Under Light Pest Pressure

When you walk in your field in the fall and see that all the corn is standing and there are no ears on the ground, would you notice 5 bushel yield loss? 10 bushel? Any of us would be hard pressed to notice that kind of loss unless there were obvious signs of damage.

How much does such a seemingly small loss cost you per bag of seed?

• a 5 bushel loss would be $26 per bag (5 bu. X $2.00 per bu. X 2.6 bags per acre)
• a 10 bu. would be $52. Unfortunately, if you are still using conventional corn you may be experiencing this amount of loss…or worse…even if you don’t think you have problems stemming from corn borers, rootworm or weed pressure.

Comparing our best traited products to our best conventional corns in the same maturity over the last two years proved to be quite an eye opener:

TRAITED	CONVENTIONAL	YIELD ADVANTAGE	PER BAG ADVANTAGE	# LOCATIONS
RK632RRYGPL	RK636	22.7	$              120.80	5
RK244LLYGCB	RK232	4.9	$                24.44	20
RK488YGCB	RK488	10.6	$                50.39	102
RK772YGCB	RK688	12.2	$                49.63	73
RK877YGPL	RK877	4.3	$                16.33	14

In all cases, the trait products showed significant yield advantage, which translates into large per bag advantage in added return (using $2 corn).

What makes these numbers even more interesting is that 2005 and 2004 were not known as having high infestations of corn borer or rootworm. We are seeing large yield advantages even under light infestations.

So why are these products showing an edge? I think the simple answer is that traited products essentially stop yield loss from these stresses right away. In the old days you would not think about using a treatment until you thought you might have enough yield loss to justify the cost of the insecticide. On the other hand YieldGard corn borer or rootworm start controlling these pests right away so that even under light infestation you are seeing positive yield response.

Other factors are also at work. Roundup® does not set the corn plant back like conventional herbicides and historically shows an average of 6.5 more bushels per acre from this factor alone. Corn rootworm products are all treated with Poncho that controls secondary soil pests essentially giving that corn control of all below soil pests and having an undamaged root mass really pays dividends when conditions get dry and the corn is looking for all the water it can to fill the ear out. Lastly, the return for breeding companies is highest on traited products, not only getting money from royalties of the genetics but money from the sale of the trait. Because of this, their breeding resources are directed at producing better traited products, causing the most elite genetics to be in the traited category.

The question in your mind should no longer be “do I need a rootworm product or corn borer variety?” but which variety will give me the most return. Using a RRYGPL variety may be the best choice for you simply because it can deliver 15 bushels more than any other variety, not because it has RR tolerance or it controls corn borer and rootworms.

Traited corn is showing more and more dominance over untraited corns and Renk is accelerating the shift to those products. Our triple stacked products will be priced aggressively.   Now is an excellent time to move towards these varieties, eliminating the yield robbers and letting the genetics shine.