Monday, November 5, 2007
66-5

Skip-row Corn and Sorghum in the West Central Great Plains.

Merle F. Vigil, David Nielsen, David Poss, and Brien Henry. USDA-ARS, Central Great Plains Research Station, 40335 County Road GG, Akron, CO 80720

Skip-row planting of corn and sorghum has recently developed as a strategy for mitigating drought in the dryland regions of the western Central Great Plains. Here we compare over 9 site years of no-till feed-grain yields when planted skip-row and when planted conventionally. Planting arangements include plant 2 rows, skip 2 rows,(P2S2), plant 1 skip 1(P1S1), plant 2 skip 1 (P2S1) and conventional 0.76m rows. The skip-row plantings on average tend to have slightly greater yields than conventional planting (between 300 and 500 kg/ha greater yield). The largest yield differences manifest in the dryer portions of the region and tend to be statistically significant when overall yields are less than 4000 kg/ha. At yields greater than 4000 kg/ha and up to about 5000 kg/ha the skip-row method neither depresses nor increases grain yields.