2005 Year in Review

Has Your Corn Pollinated?

Source: Robert W. Frazee, Extension Educator, Natural Resources Management, rfrazee@uiuc.edu

Most farmers are all too aware, that in most cases, hot, dry weather and good corn pollination do not mix. Even though farmers planted their corn very early this spring and the corn crop is considerably ahead of normal development, many farmers are still watching this year's corn crop to see impact of this summer's weather on corn pollination and ultimately on its harvested yield.

How can you tell if your corn crop has completed a successful fertilization? The following method works quite well, reports Bob Frazee, University of Illinois Natural Resources Educator.

Begin checking your cornfields several days after pollen shed is complete, or about 2 weeks after the tassels appear. To conduct a spot check, walk into the field away from the end-rows. Grasp the developing ear and remove it from the plant. Carefully remove the husks from the ear, making sure you do not disturb the silks. After removing all the husks, Frazee recommends you grasp the butt end of the ear and give it two to three vigorous shakes. Silks that lead to kernels that are fertilized will break easily at the kernel. Consequently, ears with only a few remaining silks attached have been properly pollinated. However, ears with numerous silks still attached have yet to receive pollen.

A common result of prolonged moisture stress is the production of ears with barren tips. Frazee reports that this occurs because the tip kernels were not pollinated or were aborted after pollination.

Frazee recommends that producers wait for about 2 weeks after the end of pollen shed before they begin to make any yield estimates. By then, if the kernels were fertilized the small white blisters on the ear will be rapidly increasing in size. It is also possible to tell if fertilization has occurred by slicing the kernels longitudinally through the embryo side and looking for the young embryo. Only fertilized kernels will produce embryos. Most kernels that have been fertilized will continue to develop and mature if the plants get water. It is at this stage that Frazee suggests that farmers can start determining kernel numbers per ear and begin to get a “rough” estimate of the cornfield’s yield potential.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
July 19, 2005