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Hosts David Nicolai and Seth Naeve discuss the progress and challenges of Minnesota's agronomic crops. They are joined each week by a diversity of specialists representing all crops and agronomic disciplines to discuss their research and its impact on Minnesota crops. Dave Nicolai is a crops Extension educator and Seth Naeve is the Extension soybean agronomist.
Good day, and welcome to the University of Minnesota Extension and CFANS podcast, Minnesota CropCast. I'm Dave Nicolai, University of Minnesota Extension crops educator, along with my cohost, Doctor. Seth Nave, University of Minnesota Extension soybean specialist. Welcome back. Our guest today in the studio is Doctor.
Dave:Jeff Coulter. Jeff is University of Minnesota Extension corn specialist and we wanted to visit with Jeff a little bit about some of the things that he's been talking about in the circuit this past winter and especially this past spring down at the Southern Research and Outreach Center recently had a agronomy field tour and Jeff was one of the guests on the stops and round in the field. And Jeff, we asked you to come in primarily to talk about a new concept in corn production that started in the last couple of years outside of Minnesota. And that is developing corn hybrid technology on a shorter stock and basically a shorter corn plant but still delivering the yield that growers are anticipating and like. So can you give us a little bit of an overview and maybe a little bit of history lesson as how this developed and then we can jump in and talk a little bit more about why and where things are going?
Jeff:Yeah. Well, it it kinda seems like a new concept, Stature Corn, but, you know, this idea of him having a semi dwarf crop is nothing new. If we think back to the green revolution of the nineteen forties to nineteen sixties, that was, you know, we hear the the word, the name Norman Borlaug from the University of Minnesota, that was all based on the development of semi dwarf wheat and rice varieties that were resisting resistant to lodging and diseases. So by having them shorter, they resisted lodging, They also responded better to higher populations, and with those higher populations, they were able to get higher yield. And this has been done in other crops as well, grain sorghum, barley, rye, pearl millet.
Jeff:So most of the grassy grain crops have had this done to them and basically corn is one of the last to be to have it done.
Dave:Well, certainly is exciting because you know, we've had good technology in corn and conventional breeding and then we have had, you know, other types of breeding in terms of development from a standpoint of genetics and so forth and incorporating some of these different traits in for herbicide tolerance resistance. But this is really unique in the standpoint that we're choosing to deliberately radically change the architecture of one of our main crops across the Midwest.
Jeff:Yeah, so with the Short Stature corn hybrids, we're looking at corn that's going be about seven feet tall or less compared to the traditional nine to 12 feet tall for the standard hybrids. They also, many of them have lower ear height, which is one drawback that we'll talk a little bit about later. They also have shorter and wider leaves near the middle of the plant. The leaves are a little more upright, but they have the same number of leaves basically. So you have a similar similar number of leaves, you just have shorter stalk, a little bit lower lower ear height, and in some cases a lot lower ear height.
Jeff:And then because of these factors, they also have a higher optimum plant population. And then there's a whole thing about roots that we can talk about as well, where they have research from Purdue University at Indiana showed that the Short Stature hybrids had substantially larger root mass and also a deeper root system as well. And they also have smaller tassels, lets light let more light penetrate down into the canopy.
Seth:Let's go back to you you brought up rice and and wheat in the Green Revolution thing. So just in really broad terms, why why is shorter for these cereal crops better? What's what's the what's the advantage to shorter shorter crops?
Jeff:I I think there's a lot of them. You know, the the main one that we think about is lodging. Right? We all remember the year when the derecho went through Iowa and Illinois, Indiana, and that year was a big year when there was trials out with Short Stature corn in them, and the Short Stature corn stood well, whereas the standard hybrids were basically flattened. We've all seen those pictures.
Jeff:So that's a big one. But then other thinking about other things, you know, the bigger root system, just not having as big a plants and allowing the plants to tolerate a higher plant population is big. I think that's kind of the big one if we think about all cereal crops. For corn specifically, I think it's been about 8.5% to 17% of the yield improvement that's occurred over time in new hybrids has been attributed to the newer hybrids having a higher optimum plant population. So basically, whatever we can do to have that crop be able to tolerate a higher plant population is going to allow us to get higher yield.
Jeff:So basically, I think the idea with the short corn is, we're able to keep the ear size about the same or slightly smaller per plant, but pack more plants per acre in there and therefore get higher yield. So right now, you know, some of the research has shown that the yields are comparable. In some instances, that's been higher, but not consistently higher by a large amount. And I think we're we're working they're working on that. You know, we hope to get to that point down the road.
Seth:Yeah. I I think a little bit differently than most people, but I I tend to look at these plants from, you know, kind of an engineering perspective. And, you know, the all of these processes that a plant has to do, they have to have to, it costs money to them. It costs resources to them to make them. And so I think about making a really tall plant, and the plants, you know, like a tree, for instance, it invests a ton of energy into making a big trunk so that it can get up above the canopy and be the first one to intercept a light.
Seth:And, you know, these cereal crops are a little bit the same way, as they have to invest a lot of energy to grow tall that they could be putting into the grain in the end. I think, I'm not an engineer, but I know that the torque and things that these plants take in wind events, it's very costly to create a plant to be resistant to those types of things. So the cost to grow another inch tall is much higher than to grow another inch wide, for instance, I'm sure, just because of the physics of the thing. So I'm sure that just moving a little bit more into the grain is probably a good idea in the end. If plants don't have to invest into things that are not necessarily useful for them in the end, that's a good overall strategy, is the way I would look at it from a very naive kind of perspective.
Dave:So Jeff, when we talk about being shorter, what actually are we talking about on the corn plant? Are we talking about overall height or the distance between leaves? You know, refer that as an internode. Is that different on different parts of the plant? But you know, I imagine there's and as we know there are probably a number of different suppliers here, but what actually is shorter in stature that leads this overall height reduction?
Jeff:Yeah, thanks Dave. So it it's the shorter internodes, which is the region in between the leaves and where those internodes are shorter varies based on, you know, the company that's providing the genetics. But generally, it's right now in the Bayer hybrids that are available, it's below the ear. So that results in a shorter plan, but also a shorter ear height. And they're working right now, Bayer is on a transgenic version that's gonna have to go through EPA approval and all that, I believe.
Jeff:And that one is supposed to have consistency in shorter inner nodes throughout the entire plant rather than just below the ear. So that hopefully that will result in a higher ear height. So right now the farmers that have grown this have been, I think, pretty impressed with the yields that they're comparable to what the standard hybrids are producing. But the challenge has been the harvestability because the ear height gets low, particularly in droughty scenarios like sandy soils, eroded knolls, under drought conditions, that type of thing. I mean, gets almost so low that it's not too far off the ground at the time of harvest.
Dave:Well, was my next question is, let's say there's not a drought and we have a good growing season. Typically is the ear dramatically lower than a conventional hybrid here in terms of height? Are we talking about just a couple inches or six inches or more in situations where we have good weather conditions or where would you place that ear height and will we have any difficulty harvesting with today's combines?
Jeff:Yeah, under good conditions, they should be harvestable. Just going off of memory, think the ear height is about 22 inches off the ground. So where the ear connects to the stock, that's about 22 inches off the ground under normal good growing conditions. So that's that's definitely lower than standard hybrids and it's going to make, you know, having to have that header closer to the ground.
Dave:So when you have less stock material, does a modern hybrid or corn hybrid in this case put more kernels on that ear or is there potential for more grain because it's not growing as much in terms of vegetative material? Will there consequently be more or is it are we looking in the same ballpark in terms of kernel depth or kernel number?
Jeff:Yeah, my understanding is that the ear size is pretty much similar to what we had, or maybe slightly smaller than, standard hybrids, but it's planted at a higher population, to kind of compensate for that. So, yeah, I mean, the big thing is is you have less stock material. I think it's been like it's like 95% of the if we look at the total biomass produced by Short Stature corn, think it's about 95 of that of standard corn hybrids, if we just look at the biomass and not including the grain. So there's a little less stover produced and the ears are about the same or maybe a little smaller, but the higher population kind of compensates for that. I think the big driver, you know, we've been talking about, well, the stalk doesn't have to be as tall.
Jeff:What's the plant gonna do with all this extra photosynthate? Well, I think a lot of it's gonna be used to build the root system. Like I mentioned, Purdue University found that I think it was like 35 to 42% greater root biomass, and the roots were also deeper for the Short Stature corn, and that may be one of the factors that helps it tolerate high plant densities.
Seth:So your, the stock is shorter, but it is fatter, right? I mean, think Yes, yes. Quite a bit fatter. So let's maybe flesh this out a little bit. Is this significant?
Seth:When you look at it, you can see that these things are really short and fat at the stock level?
Jeff:Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the first things you'll notice when you look at the base of the plants. They're thick stalks, and if you dig them out, you also find that the nodal roots coming off the base of the stalk are also thicker than standard corn hybrids. So that's something that's very evident. I mean, it's very noticeable.
Seth:So both from a structural standpoint, that probably gives that stock a little bit more strength just having a bigger circumference, so you have more of this kind of rind, that harder tissue around the edge, it's going to hold things up. But then, you know, theoretically, the volume of sugars and things stored in that stem is still going to be pretty good. You're not going to probably lose that, and that's going to be a good storage resource for your ear, growing ear at the end. Is reasonable as well?
Jeff:Yeah. And interestingly enough, you know, people are really excited about short stature corn for corn silage. We hear that the brown midrib hybrids are getting phased out in the coming years, and many people think that short stature corn could help to fill that void, generally by having less biomass compared to regular corn, but having similar ear size that's going to result in greater starch concentration of the silage. Also, like you mentioned, we got thicker stalks and so that you got the ratio of rind to pith is different compared to standard hybrids. So we got more pith material, which is that inner part of the stalk that's higher quality.
Jeff:So some research out of University of Wisconsin compared short stature hybrids versus BMR versus dual purpose silage hybrids, and they found that the short stature hybrids were kind of intermediate in between between BMR and dual purpose hybrids in terms of quality, and they also produce good tonnage.
Seth:Well, it's a great market because none of those guys are going to complain about low ears if they're chopping at the soil surface anyway. So there are people, it's probably a good place to go with some of these that had a little bit lower ear height. If they still yield well, they might be good silage hybrids.
Dave:So Jeff, I wanted to go back and say, let's say the yield is equivalent or similar. Then what are the other characteristics? Why would a farmer want to switch or invest or devote some of this acreage? Let's say, you know, it's not dramatically higher in yield, but what are some other characteristics now the other day down at Waseca and we talked a little bit about and you commented on things like, well, wind, you know, high wind situation, green snap ability that we talked about being able to go in and actually perhaps maybe make applications of fungicide. What are the things that you're hearing in terms of other attributes beyond just grain yield per se that people might want to know about or at least investigate?
Jeff:Yeah, well the big one right now is the standability, greater tolerance to lodging, and theoretically greensnap since it's got that thicker stalk. Other things are, you know, it's only looking at seven foot tall plants compared to nine to 12 foot tall plants. So it's easier to get through there with a ground rig for in season applications of fungicide or nitrogen fertilizer. Some of the research has also shown that the Short Stature corn has better up to it's better able to take up applied nitrogen fertilizer, and some of it is showing that it takes up a greater proportion of its nitrogen fertilizer after tasseling compared to standard hybrids. So I don't know if there's one single advantage.
Jeff:I mean, the farmer is going to be thinking, making their decisions largely about on grain yield, but you know, some of these other factors are coming into play. And I think when we do get to the point where we're able to get hybrids that tolerate, you know, really high populations and respond to them with higher yield as well, then I think that's going to be a good selling point. But, you know, we got to look at the economics of it if we're planting more seeds, know, we got to take that cost into account, and in some cases there's evidence that the short corn responds better to narrow rows than standard corn. So some research out of Indiana was showing if you plant short corn in narrow rows, you get a better response to high populations, and therefore you get a higher yield. So, you know, that's kind of an interesting thing as well.
Seth:Well, let's talk about row spacing. So narrow row, did they, what's the definition of narrow rows in this perspective, or in this example?
Jeff:I would say anything less than 30 is relevant.
Seth:Yeah. So we talked a little bit beforehand, and I I I still am, you know, pretty excited in Minnesota. We we have a lot of people that moved away from fifteens, went back to thirties, but we still have a good portion of production in Minnesota in 20s and 22s. So do you think that this has a good fit for those folks in 20 or 22 inches rows?
Jeff:Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, if you're thinking about trying it and using a higher population with it, like is recommended, I think, you know, planting it in narrow rows is going to give you the best opportunity to see those benefits and yield.
Seth:But then, theoretically and potentially hypothetically, 15 inches rows might be even the best scenario, then we can't get down, we'd have to have tramways and things like that. But theoretically, if farmers had some of these Cullmers 15 inches row heads or something like that around, or if they could get some of those things, or, you know, if they had the resources to buy those things, that could be potentially the ideal scenario. Is that something I made up in my own mind, or does that seem reasonable?
Jeff:No. I think that's realistic. You know, if we look five, ten years down the road, if this thing takes off and we're growing this stuff, say, at 45,000 seeds per acre or higher, you know, we'd probably wanna be planting it in narrow rows like 15 inches, maybe using tram lines so that we can put fungicide applications on it if it needs. I mean, that's a whole another topic as fungicide applications because we got the same number of leaves, but now we got them compressed into a much smaller region.
Dave:Well, there's a lot of things that, you know, will be determined obviously. One question that I have is, and I don't know if you have been found out more information from some of the potential suppliers, but what the economics here in terms of the cost of production, seed cost per acre, is this going to be more of a premium price? Is that what it's looking like or will that smooth out as we get more acres on the landscape, you know, per se, but initially the things in there now, know some of it's obviously conventional breeding. There might be some other GMO and opportunities here, but it's, is it going to be obtainable within a normal budget or just really sky high here?
Jeff:Well, I mean, you, if you, if this Short Stature corn already has a higher recommended planting rate, then the cost per acre for the seed is already higher.
Dave:Right, right. But given the number of seeds.
Jeff:Yeah, if an 80,000 bag, seed bag costs the same amount. So, you know, I think those things are really yet to be figured out. I haven't I I guess probably the fairest way to figure that out would be, you know, price some of what is being sold by Stein Seed Company in Iowa because they were one of the first to develop it. I think a large portion of their lineup is currently in Short Stature hybrids.
Dave:Right, you know, so are they automatically recommending the higher rate along with that or are they letting people decide?
Jeff:Yeah, my understanding is that the Short Stature corn is recommended at a higher planting rate. Pretty consistently.
Seth:So Jeff, you've been looking at this for a number of years. What kinds of trials have you you talked a little bit about Dan's work on narrow rows and out of Purdue, but what what kind of work have you been doing and what what have you looked at here in Minnesota?
Jeff:Yeah. A few years ago, did a trial that Bayer funded with Tom Hoverstedt at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca. We looked at planting different short corn hybrids at different planting rates, and we didn't see a big yield response to planting rate, increase in the planting rate. That was largely, probably, because it was kind of a drought year, but there was a couple things that stuck out in my mind. First thing was I was kind of shocked at how well it yielded.
Jeff:It was basically yielding the same as what the standard hybrids around it were. And in addition, there's the stalks. The stalks were very thick and the ears were closer to the ground. So it was very noticeable, but it seemed like it stood well.
Dave:So the standability now, I not necessarily put a downside in there, we were talking the other day out at the Waseca about recently in Minnesota, we had a very significant wind event across some of our counties and across Western and into Central Minnesota. And there was a fair amount of green snap and it was all probably conventional but high wind speeds. Maybe talk a little bit about that. I mean, this is a thicker stock but there are some other things to keep in mind if we do get those significant wins even with all the plant material that's there.
Jeff:Yeah, well we were out at Waseca yesterday and the corn was about V eight, maybe V seven. I had a Short Stature Corn trial behind me that I was talking about, and it's funded by the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council. And we were digging up some plants and looking at them, and we noticed that this at this time at the V eight stage, the stalks were maybe 20% thicker for the short corn compared to the standard hybrids. I would think that they would resist the greensnap better than the standard hybrids. Probably gonna be harder to snap over, you know, but I think anything snapped over at this time, you know, even if it snapped above the growing point, I don't really have a lot of optimism for those plants making it, you know, because that growing point is gonna have to try to grow through this bent over stalk, and it's just not gonna be pretty and probably not gonna really ever make it.
Dave:So that's given the case in the situation where it actually breaks over, but we're hoping obviously to resist that to some degree prior to that with you know a stiffer or bigger stock and certainly with it. So that's certainly one aspect. And I think you touched on the other aspect too of growers in terms of fungicide applications. I know we had a lot of interest obviously with Southern Rust of this last year which could be an anomaly. We don't necessarily expect those weather conditions to be repeated and so but we've got other concerns you know tar spot, you know, So it does open up those possibilities.
Dave:I was going to ask you anything about the leaf width or you can indicate leaf numbers the same, size of the leaves, anything that's changing there?
Jeff:Yeah, around the ear leaf, the ear leaf and I think the leaves around it are generally a little bit shorter and also fatter, a little wider. Okay.
Dave:So those are some of the other characteristics. I know that we were talking before we started here, there's then developed, you know, in terms of where kernels are laying in the ground, that first leaf coming out or, you know, the planting situations with various types of planters. So I don't know that leaf orientation may make a difference with these short corn statured corn but time will tell I guess on that because that technology is involving FAST as well, isn't it?
Jeff:Yeah. I mean, basically I floated the idea to some farmers, know, hey, this this grows better in narrow rows than higher row than than wider rows, especially if you're trying to push the population. But, you know, farmers that have just purchased a new 30 inch planter and have all the 30 inch row equipment are gonna be pretty hesitant to adopt a narrow row spacing. So some some people think like, what if I adopt if I keep my wide row, my 30 inch row corn equipment, but then I start adopting some of this new technology for my planters so that we're able to place the seed the same way every time, so that when that first leaf emerges, it emerges in the row and the plants aren't competing amongst each other. And that may be especially important if I'm pushing the population in in wide row corn.
Jeff:And I think that's definitely a viable idea, you know, kind of one of the one of the general guidelines is, you know, if you can fit your boot in between two plants, you know, they're probably not too close to be really having a severe yield effect. But when you get those doubles or you get the plants that are, you know, real close together, then, you know, that's starting to create a par a problem. So, you know, you can have 38, 40,000 seeds per acre and still fit your boot in between there if they're spaced well.
Seth:So I'm just thinking very broadly in terms of companies and history of release of kind of new technologies and new traits. I guess I'm pretty optimistic based on where we're at. You think that we've got three individual, at least three big primary genetic suppliers that have invested heavily into this. Clearly, there's an interest. I think a lot of our traits that have come and gone tend to be focused within one individual company that's put a bunch of resources into it and then just couldn't quite get this thing over the line.
Seth:I think the fact that we have three big companies in this business, I think, it bodes well. I think secondarily, I think if we're seeing good yields now with some of these early experimental lines, I think that bodes really well for us as well because these are traits that are going to be pretty complicated to get back crossed into existing germplasm. And so I think forward breeding is going to be really important for this thing going forward so that these companies can have a whole set of germplasm based around short traits. And maybe that's the beauty of the transgenic, is they can just cross this back in more easily. But think there's some good between the lines notes here in terms of where this thing is going.
Seth:So I'm hopeful that there's some real potential for the future on this. And I think farmers are going to have to embrace it at some point to at least try it for the companies to stay in the business. And I don't think all the farmers can sit on the sidelines forever and wait for it to be a perfect technology or the companies start to get nervous about things. But I know farmers want to try new things, and there's a lot of interest in this one especially. So I really anticipate that there'll be enough early adopters.
Seth:I'm not concerned that there won't be enough early adopters to get into this. So I'm excited.
Dave:So Jeff, as we reach the end of our time here, let's look forward from your standpoint. You have maybe some trials out there. What do you hope to keep doing with Short Stature Corn in terms of applied research or evaluations and so forth. How do you see that fitting into your extension and applied program here? What are, what's the next steps coming up here this year and in the near future?
Jeff:Yeah. Well, thanks, Dave. Well, like I mentioned, you know, Purdue University found that the Short Stature hybrids had a bigger root system and that it went deeper. And another set of researchers there also found that it had better nitrogen use efficiency, and that would have that's been documented also in studies by University of Illinois as well. So basically, the short corn is better able to utilize or take up applied nitrogen to the field.
Jeff:So that got me thinking that, know, maybe the optimum nitrogen rate is different for short stature corn than standard hybrids. So we were fortunate enough to receive funding from the Minnesota Research and Promotion Council to study this. So this year, we embarked on a new study, I hope to do it for three years, where we are testing three standard hybrids and three short stature hybrids of similar relative maturities, and each of those six hybrids are receiving six different nitrogen fertilizer rates, and we're going to measure the yield, we're going to measure the total biomass of the plant, we're going to measure the nitrogen concentration in different portions of the plant, we're going to try to determine number one, how do short corn versus tall corn compare for economics, grain yield, grain moisture, that kind of thing. But then we also want to determine how do they respond to nitrogen. Is the economic optimum nitrogen rate different for short corn compared to tall corn?
Jeff:And how about the nitrogen use efficiencies? Is that short stature corn better able to recover nitrogen fertilizer than the tall corn? And if it it is, that's a great benefit. That's a win win situation where we're we're able to get produce a good crop, but also be able to cut back on the nitrogen fertilizer and also save some costs. So I think there's a lot of things that we can uncover and figure out regarding nitrogen management for Short Stature corn and this may be, you know, one tool in the toolbox for helping us get better nitrogen use efficiency.
Seth:That's fantastic. I'm really happy that Minnesota Corn Growers, you know, supported that project. That's a good use of corn checkoff dollars. So I'm really happy. I'm excited to see your results from that, Jeff.
Dave:So we look forward to maybe learning a little bit more about these results. I know that before we started I mentioned about we have some opportunities for education and training in extension and we work with our industry partners. One of them is a crop pest management short course that's held in December. We also have research updates and so forth. So there's, we're looking forward I guess bottom line is some of this data.
Dave:I know it's a multi year study but it would be good to learn a little bit more about that. Well, I think we're end of our time, Jeff. Thanks for coming in. We do appreciate that. Well, everybody is fresh in the knowledge here recent field days.
Dave:So we wanna say thanks and good luck given the season things are going well at least right now with the way the corn crop across the landscape. We don't see a lot of drowned out spots but we're looking at fairly even stands in terms of that some good moisture so we hope things get well. All right, so this has been another edition of University of Minnesota CropCast. I've been your host Dave Nicolai, University of Minnesota Extension crops educator and along with my co host Doctor. Seth Nave, University of Minnesota Extension soybean specialist and our guest today in the studio has been Doctor.
Dave:Jeff Coulter, University of Minnesota Extension corn specialist. Thanks for listening and we look forward to next time.