The Solar Corridor Protocol and Solar Radiation Use Efficiency.

The solar corridor protocol presented at the 2007 Annual Meetings, preceeded by appropriate variety screening trials, calls for twin rows placed far enough apart to allow a more uniform vertical distribution of incident sunlight to reach each potentially productive chloroplast laden leaf, with a swath of specific winter grain and stubble legume cultivars between specific phenotypes of twin corn rows.    

Our variety specific corn grain yield data strongly suggest that more photosynthates, per unit of plant intercepted solar radiation, are delivered to the reproductive sinks of specific high yielding varieties, in the solar corridor crop production environment. Our variety specific observations of reduced lodging suggest that vegetative sinks also receive extra photosynthates.

The yield based specifics of above, will be the focus of this introductory paper. The data will show that we can produce as much or more corn on one 60 inch twin row as we can on two 30 inch rows while producing additional yields from another sunlight compatible crop growing between the 60 inch twin corn rows and provide basic background for this symposium.