Nebraska’s harvest is mostly complete and data from University variety test plots has been collected and compiled in the Nebraska Seed Guide 2005. It is at the printers and will be publicly released about Dec. 17. This guide will contain the test results on corn, soybean, grain sorghum, sunflower, proso millet, and several pea and forage crops.

The data reflect what we and farmers had already observed about this year’s corn crop -- yields were unexpectedly high. A combination of cooler summer temperatures along with timely rains were just what the corn crop needed. Although soybean yields were good, they did not stand out to the extent that corn yields did.

In western Nebraska delays in harvest and higher moisture grain were evident. Several grain sorghum hybrids in the Panhandle did not mature enough to attain good test weights, even though the first killing frost was very late this year. Also, grain moisture in the Panhandle for both corn and grain sorghum was quite high.

We had fewer testing sites reporting proso millet and sunflower results this year because of a severe hail storm at our major testing site near Sidney. The July 29 hail destroyed most of the summer crops at this location.
We hope you use the 2005 Seed Guide in conjunction with data from your own farm and information from seed dealers to choose the best varieties and hybrids for your crop next year. Data included in the Seed Guide also is available on the web at: http://varietytest.unl.edu. 

To assist you in using data to make better variety decisions, there are three NebGuides available. They are “Using Soybean Yield Data to Improve Variety Selection Part I,” “Using Soybean Yield Data to Improve Variety Selection Part II,” and “Using Corn Hybrid Yield Data to Improve Selection of Rapidly Changing Hybrids.” These publications are also available on the web at http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/fieldcrops/.

Lenis Nelson
Extension Crop Variety Specialist