Grain yield is more complex than what most of us think. We are used to hear "I got 180 bushels/acre of corn or 50 bushels/acre of soybeans" here in the U.S.
In my homeland (Chile), they talk about "kilos/hectarea" or "quintals/hectarea". But what are the variables that will determine the yield ?
Let's define yield first; Yield means the productivity per unit of area. The Output, the Performance.
Is the amount of harvested plant parts that we get per any unit of area of cropland and or per plant (i.e. 40 pounds of pears/tree)
It is measured in Mass unit per Area unit. Corn is Quintals/hectarea (100 kg of grain per 10,000 square meters of cropland) or Bushels/acre (32 quarts or 63 pints of grain per 43,560 square feet of cropland).
The most important variable that will determine it at harvest is Moisture (%) or Water content, measured in %, meaning how many grams of water do we have in 100 grams of vegetal product.
Yield is the consequence of three interactions:
- Environment
- Genetics
- Agronomic Management
The environment includes the type of soil, pluviometry (rainfall), humidity, etc. The only predictible factor that will be present the next year will be the type of soil. All the others change during time and create either favorable or unfavorable conditions for pest and disease development.
The genetics is basically the potential of a cultivar, variety, strain or hybrid of producing a maximum yield. It cannot be increased by any measure but it can be favored through good agronomics.
Agronomic Management includes any practice such as irrigation, fertirrigation, application of fertilizers and additives (lime, strong acids, etc), cultural controls, etc. It can assist the yield by creating good conditions for the crop (soil-seed contact, seedbed, weed control, amongst others).
I hope this is helpful !
The genetics is basically the potential of a cultivar, variety, strain or hybrid of producing a maximum yield. It cannot be increased by any measure but it can be favored through good agronomics.
Agronomic Management includes any practice such as irrigation, fertirrigation, application of fertilizers and additives (lime, strong acids, etc), cultural controls, etc. It can assist the yield by creating good conditions for the crop (soil-seed contact, seedbed, weed control, amongst others).
I hope this is helpful !
