Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #337137
Title: Iowa crop variety yield testing: A history and annotated bibliography

Author
item PELLACK, LORRAINE - Iowa State University
item Karlen, Douglas

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/17/2017
Publication Date: 6/1/2017
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/6477305
Citation: Pellack, L.J., Karlen, D.L. 2017. Iowa crop variety yield testing: A history and annotated bibliography. Crop Science. 57(4):1984-1998. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2017.01.0009.

Interpretive Summary: Understanding what previous generations of research scientists have learned and how they conducted their experiments can significantly improve current research programs. This article consists of a review and annotated bibliography outlining lessons learned through more than a century of crop variety testing in Iowa, USA. It is designed to provide guidance to other researchers and anyone else who is interested in learning more about the development of variety testing. It will be useful for agricultural scientists, farmers, and others using plant breeding techniques to improve crop productivity, resistance to diseases, insects, and other stresses such as drought, and the quality of grain for food, feed, fuel, and other bio-products.

Technical Abstract: Variety testing by U.S. agricultural universities, often in cooperation with experiment stations, and professional crop associations is recognized as an independent, unbiased validation of the viability of commercial crop varieties. In Iowa, variety testing has also been conducted by many private agricultural companies and individual farmers. Records for crop variety evaluations within the state can be traced back to 1871, well before the creation of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in 1888. Unfortunately, they are shrouded in obscurity and difficult to find. For example, the Iowa Corn Yield Test is undeniably the most famous of the Iowa variety yield trials; however, corn (Zea mays L.) varieties were being tested long before that program was initiated. Furthermore, Iowa researchers have been conducting variety yield tests on many other field crops for several years. Knowledge of how Iowa variety tests have been organized and published could be helpful to researchers looking for similar, long-term evaluations from other states and around the world. Variety tests from the past also have the potential to help guide new research efforts and may provide an important untapped resource for unique varietal data. As crop scientists and agronomists look to find new sources for biofuels, bio-products and other industrial uses for various crops, data from historical varieties could be useful. The objective for this review is to provide an historic account with sections on varietal testing in Iowa. It is presented in chronological order followed by sections devoted to specific crops. A Supplemental Information file containing a detailed annotated bibliography is also provided.