Contact:
James.Holden@Pioneer.com
07 4637 2966

25-Jul-05

Corn’s benefits in the cotton rotation

Many cotton farmers are already aware of the benefits of growing corn as a companion crop to cotton.

One of these is Glenn Fresser of 'Mayfield' near Dalby. Glenn is a long-term cotton and corn grower. He says the two crops work very well together. Glenn grows Pioneer hybrid 3237 corn for feed grain, which he normally sells to a local feedlot.

"We can plant corn in September and by the end of February it's ready to harvest and has stopped taking up moisture," he says. "This means all the rain we get from then on goes into the soil for the next crop." Glenn says he sees higher cotton yields on country that has come out of corn. "The corn stubble breaks down and adds organic matter," he says. "The soil is always in better condition after a crop of corn," he adds.

Glenn chooses 3237 because of its high yield and ability to handle moisture stress. He says with good water management, yields of more than 12 tonnes per hectare are achievable.

Bruce Picone of Garah near Moree says corn fits in well with other crops grown on the family farm especially cotton. "We get better cotton yields after growing a crop of corn," he says. "I think it's because of the way corn conditions the soil and adds organic matter."

The Picones grow Pioneer 3153 to make corn silage for 'Tallawanta' feedlot, which is part of their farming operation. "If we're going to include silage in a ration, it needs to be more than just a roughage," Bruce explains."Silage from 3153 has such good energy value," he adds.

Nathan Bradley, who farms with his father-in-law Paul McVeigh at 'Loch Eaton' near Dalby, says they have noticed big improvements in corn yields after cotton. "There was a half a tonne to the acre difference between corn after corn compared with corn after cotton (in the 2003-04 season)," Nathan says. "It proves to us that corn and cotton are good companion crops in our farm's rotation," he says.

Farm manager Reuben Melville of Byee in the South Burnett has been progressively increasing corn yields over the past few years with the help of Pioneer's local area manager Rob Crothers. "In 2002 we were averaging nearly 12 tonnes per hectare, in 2003 it was 12.3 and in 2004 we harvested 15 tonnes per hectare." He says the increase in yield has mostly been the result of fine-tuning water and nutrient management, which has allowed Pioneer 3237 express its yield potential.
"We're aiming for 17 tonnes per hectare this season," Reuben says. "And our long term goal is 19 tonnes per hectare."

He believes corn is an ideal rotation partner for irrigated cotton, which is the farm's main crop. "We pick up 25 per cent improvement in yield in cotton following corn," Reuben says. "I think corn makes more nutrients available and increases the organic matter in the soil." Reuben says he sees lower insect pest pressure in cotton crops growing next to corn because of beneficial insects living in the corn crop.

Pioneer's national sales and agronomy manager, Peter Kleinhanss, says later-planted corn can also be used for producing Helicoverpa armigera as part of a Bollgard II resistance management strategy as long as the corn is flowering from January 15 to February 28. Peter says corn can also help reduce cotton growers' workload over summer. "For September-planted corn, the last irrigation will be around mid-December during grain fill." He says this means growers can then concentrate fully on their cotton crops from then on and the area of their farm sown to corn will need no further work until it is harvested about two months later.

ENDS