Nebraska is one of the top five corn-growing states in the United States, with the planting of corn on 3.5 to 4 million hectares annually. Harvest loss of corn results in volunteer corn interference in the crop grown in rotation. Estimating the extent of harvest loss and expected volunteer corn density is a key to planning an integrated volunteer corn management program. This study aimed to evaluate the harvest loss of corn and estimate the potential for volunteerism. Harvest loss samples were collected after corn harvest from a total of 47 fields in six counties, including 26 corn fields in 2020, and 21 fields in 2021, in south-central and southeastern Nebraska. An individual cornfield size was 16 to 64 ha. A total of 16 samples were collected from each field after corn harvest in 2020 and 2021. Harvest loss of corn was 1.5% and 0.7% of the average yield of 15,300 kg ha–¹ in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Corn harvest loss was 191 and 80 kg ha–¹ from dryland fields, and 206 and 114 kg ha–¹ from irrigated fields in 2020 and 2021, respectively. An average kernel loss of 68 and 33 m^–2 occurred in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The germination percentage of corn kernels collected from harvest loss was 51%, which implies that volunteer corn plants of 35 and 17 m^–2 from 2020 and 2021, respectively, could be expected in successive years. A volunteer corn management plan is required, because if it is not controlled, this level of volunteer corn density can cause yield reduction depending on the crop grown in rotation.

Nomenclature: Corn; Zea mays L.