227-11 Flex-Ear and Fixed-Ear Hybrid Response to Plant Population.



Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Henry Gonzalez Convention Center, Hall C, Street Level

Kraig Roozeboom, Lance Visser and Stewart Duncan, Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Seed companies often characterize hybrids as fixed-ear or flex-ear types. Hybrid descriptions indicate that ears of fixed-ear hybrids do not adjust as readily to environmental conditions, but ears of flex-ear hybrids do. Flex-ear hybrids are often targeted for more difficult growing conditions and are planted with fewer plants per acre compared to a fixed-ear hybrid. The objective of these studies was to determine if hybrids characterized as flex-ear or fixed-ear have different optimum plant densities in different environments. Two hybrids (one characterized as fixed-ear, one characterized as flex-ear) were planted at several locations in Kansas in several different years. At each location, plant density was established by thinning before V5. In only a few instances did response to plant density depend on hybrid type. In most environments, yield response to plant density was similar for both fixed and flex-ear hybrids.
See more from this Division: C03 Crop Ecology, Management & Quality
See more from this Session: Cereal and Feed Grains Ecology, Management and Quality