November 18, 2020
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
Corn Product Silage Quality and Tonnage - 2020
Click on a tab below to see data collected each year for this study
TRIAL OBJECTIVE
- Corn silage is an important feedstock for cattle producers across the Great Plains.
- Desirable corn products should produce high tonnage with favorable silage quality characteristics.
- The objective was to help provide insights to farmers on tonnage and silage quality of the corn products evaluated in this study.
RESEARCH SITE DETAILS
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | ||
| Soil Type | Silt loam | ||
| Previous Crop |
Soybean | ||
| Tillage Type |
Strip till |
| Planting Date | 4/28/20 | ||
| Harvest Date | 9/15/20 | ||
| Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
250 | ||
| Seeding Rate (seeds/acre) |
40K |
- The study was set up as a randomized complete block with three replications.
- Seven DEKALB® corn products were evaluated.
- Corn was sprinkler irrigated. Fertility included 100 lb N/acre applied with a streamer bar on 4/27/20, followed by 90 lb N/acre and 15 lb S/acre applied with 360 Y-DROP® applicators on 6/24/20. Weeds were controlled as needed and no fungicides or insecticides were applied.
- Silage was harvested when most of the products were at approximately half-milk line using a silage chopper without a kernel processor. Total biomass was collected and weighed. A subsample of the freshly-chopped material was collected and sent to Dairyland Laboratories Inc. for silage quality analysis.
- Two corn products (DKC66-74RIB, DKC70-64RIB) had greensnap at a high level which did not allow for silage tonnage to be calculated but a subsample was taken for silage quality analysis.
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
Figure 1. DKC64-44RIB Brand blend corn product at the time of cutting.
Figure 2. Average silage yield (tonnage) for corn products tested.
- Corn product tonnage was numerically different but variability in the study did not allow for significant differences to be observed (Figure 2).
- Corn silage quality was different in all parameters tested (Table 1).
- DKC64-44RIB Brand blend and DKC58-34RIB Brand blend had the highest milk per ton for this trial.
KEY LEARNINGS
- Producers should work with their local DEKALB® seed sales team to identify which corn product is right for their operation.
7006_R2_20
November 19, 2019
Corn Product Silage Quality and Tonnage - 2019
TRIAL OBJECTIVE
Corn silage is an important feedstock for cattle producers across the Great Plains.
Desirable corn products should produce high tonnage with favorable silage quality characteristics.
In this study, the objective was to provide insights to farmers on which of the 22 corn products evaluated have high tonnage and good silage quality characteristics.
RESEARCH SITE DETAILS
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | ||
| Soil Type | Hord silt loam | ||
| Previous Crop |
Grain sorghum | ||
| Tillage Type |
Strip tillage |
| Planting Date | 5/23/19 | ||
| Harvest Date | 10/1/19 | ||
| Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
250 | ||
| Seeding Rate (seeds/acre) |
36K |
The study was set up as a randomized complete block with three replications.
Twenty-two corn products were evaluated.
Corn was sprinkler irrigated and weeds were controlled as needed. No fungicide or insecticide was applied.
Silage quality was sampled for each corn product at ½ milk line. Sampling dates varied by relative maturity, but all sampling occurred in the last two weeks of September.
Corn products were hand-harvested about 4 inches above the soil surface to provide a representative sample and were then chopped with a silage chopper.
A subsample of the freshly-chopped material was collected and sent to Dairyland Laboratories Inc. for silage quality analysis.
Total biomass was collected, weighed, and tonnage was determined for each corn product.
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
- Corn products did vary in silage quality and tonnage as there were significant differences in all parameters tested as reported in Table 1.
Figure 1. Short- and long-season corn products at harvest.
98RM corn product at silage harvest.
DKC70-26RIB corn product at silage harvest.
KEY LEARNINGS
Producers should work with their local seed sales team to identify how their branded corn products performed in this study.
7006_R2