To help me choose the best maize variety for silage - I tend to look at tonnes of digestible yield and tonnes of starch produced per hectare and focus on the following:-
a) High yield (tonnes of dry matter per hectare)
b) Optimal fibre digestibility (major source of energy)
c) High levels of starch (major source of energy)
d) Seed cost vs expected economic response
e) Agronomic characteristics (insect resistance, standability, stay green, drought stress tolerance, drought resistance and disease resistance)
Over the years I have looked and evaluated numerous varieties of maize both in the US corn belt and in Africa.
Nothing excites me more than a beautiful, uniform field of maize........nothing!
Does a good grain hybrid make a good silage variety?
Old school farmers always say " Tall silage hybrids with high yield grain make the best silage because animals derive most of their energy from the grain"
Well, I beg to differ!
Most grain varieties were bred with hard stalks to enable them to avoid lodging and be planted at high plant populations. This same strength in the stalk makes it undesirable for digestibility as silage. The grain kernels are hard with a high starch density which reduces the digestibility while the hard kernels are designed to withstand the rigours of a combine harvester thrashing.
The grain varieties kernels dry down rapidly and are bred to silk late.
The opposite should pertain for choosing a silage variety - a high moisture soft kernel which increases digestion.
I prefer a silage variety which I can plant at a low plant population, has a thinner stalk rind is leafy so that it yields a high
whole-plant dry matter.
The cow can now utilise the entire plant - in a leafy variety - and the leaves especially the young ones are high in protein whilst carbohydrate content in the older leaves - high sugar contents becomes invaluable for fermentation.
At least 10 leaves above the ear is a good measure for an excellent leafy silage variety which should maintain a whole-plant moisture range of 60 to 70% , thus always giving me more flexibility and a bigger window to harvest.
With the advances in plant breeding - new dual-purpose hybrids which have been bred for grain harvest but can be harvested for silage are now available. I see the merit of these especially with aour smallholder farmers who grow maize for their own use. In one season they can grow one crop, choose the hectarge for silage and let the rest mature for grain.
And you thought agriculture was not a science.........!
No comments:
Post a Comment