Very Wide Row Corn Performance in a Mississippi Trial.

An evaluation of the solar corridor system of corn production was conducted at Raymond, Mississippi. In this system, the crop is planted in twin rows (TR) with very wide row spacing at a total population equal to that of standard single-row (SR) arrangements. Using a total of eight rows per plot, seven cultivars, selected for potential for flexible ear number and leaf orientation, were sown in single rows at 38 inches or twin rows at 76 inches apart in April 2013 at Raymond, Mississippi.  In-row seeding rate, and thus seeding rate per hectare, was set identically in both systems at 66,000 seeds/ha. Heavy rains after sowing reduced stands in many plots. Data from 24 plots with the least stand reduction are presented here for discussion and planning future work. Among these plots, and counts on May 29, 59 days after seeding (DAS) averaged 5.26 plants/m in the SR plots and 2.995 plants/m in the TR plots. Standing ears per plant (EPP) at 139 DAS ranged from 0.727 to 0.907 among cultivars. SR corn averaged 0.944 EPP and TR corn averaged 0.728 EPP. Across treatments, cultivars averaged from 0.782 to 0.907 EPP, with all cultivars having fewer EPP in the TR arrangement than in the SR arrangement.