Global Maize Project in the United States: Virginia

Seven individual trials were conducted as part of the Global Maize study near New Kent, Virginia in the summer of 2016. The two main studies compared the mid-Atlantic farmer standard practices for corn production to a suite of practices identified as the “Ecological Intensification” (EI) treatment. One study was rain-fed and the other study was irrigated with a center pivot system. Corn was planted into recently killed wooly pod vetch+rye+turnip cover crop, which had been established in the fall by aerial seeding into standing soybeans. An estimated 70% vetch stand was achieved. Standard agronomic production practices (tillage, hybrid selection, and pesticide management) were common to both treatments. Differing variables between the treatments included variable rate seed population and split N applications for the EI treatment.

The Virginia statewide average corn yield in 2016 was 153 bu/A, while the grain yields in these studies were over 180 bu/A for both treatments in rain-fed and over 200 bu/A for irrigation plots. At a significance level of P<0.10, grain yield for the EI treatment was found to be greater than the mid-Atlantic standard in the rain-fed study. There were no grain yield differences in the irrigated study.