12/20/2019
Achieving Corn Silage Harvest Timing Forgiveness
Late Season Plant Health Leads to Silage Harvest Window Flexibility with Pioneer® Brand Corn
Shared from Inside the ZONE® newsletter, Pioneer Nutritional Sciences
Data Collection
As part of routine efforts to manage corn silage harvest timing, 141 samples of 2-3 representative plants each were collected from fields, assessed for milk line, chipped then measured for whole plant corn silage percent dry matter (WPCS%DM). The 2016 and 2017 growing seasons were extremes in late season drought stress in the four county mid-Michigan area represented. While 2016 corn plants were relatively stress-free as silage harvest approached, 2017 experienced six or more continuous weeks of minimal precipitation plus cool, then hot temperature stressors prior to harvest.
Harvest Timing Samples
(Normal Hybrids)
2016 Non-Stressed
2017 Late Drought/Cool Stressed
Findings
- In the absence of plant stress, Pioneer® brand corn and competitor products dried down similarly in grain maturity relative to WPCS%DM.
- Under stressful conditions, Pioneer® brand corn increased WPCS%DM more slowly than the average of competitor products while continuing to advance grain maturity. Individual comparisons followed through harvest support this conclusion.
- These data strongly suggest a more forgiving and flexible harvest window under stressful crop conditions.
Harvest data collected 19 days later than above photos:
| DKC50-82RIB | P9789AMXT™ | |
|---|---|---|
| Relative Maturity | 100d | 97d |
| Harvest %DM | 50.8 | 53.6 |
| Tons/Acre@35%DM | 27.0 | 28.0 |
| %Starch | 44.4 | 44.3 |
| %Sugar | 2.3 | 5.1 |
| %NDFd-24h | 57.5 | 60.7 |
| %uNDFom-240h | 8.7 | 7.5 |
Images imply greater plant health in the shorter relative maturity Pioneer® brand hybrid despite more advanced grain maturity. The observed plant health carried through extreme heat and drought to the harvest of an overly mature crop. Higher %sugar and fiber digestibility plus lower uNDF concur with observations of greater plant health. Harvest %DM relative to visual appearance and quality data strongly suggests moisture was proportionately much greater in the fodder versus grain as compared to competitor product.
Comparisons are against competitive brand products with similar maturity. Product responses are variable and subject to any number of environmental, disease and pest pressures. Individual results may vary. Multi-year and multi-location data are a better predictor of future performance. Caution should be used when making hybrid decisions based on single/limited plot comparisons. A minimum of 20 side-by-side hybrid comparisons is required for valid yield and nutritional comparisons. DO NOT USE THIS OR ANY OTHER DATA FROM A LIMITED NUMBER OF TRIALS AS A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN PRODUCT SELECTION. Refer to www.pioneer.com/products or contact a Pioneer® sales representative or authorized dealer for the latest and complete listing of traits and scores for each Pioneer product.
AMXT (Optimum® AcreMax® XTreme) - Contains a single-bag integrated refuge solution for above- and below-ground insects. The major component contains the Agrisure® RW trait, the YieldGard® Corn Borer gene, and the Herculex® XTRA genes. In EPA-designated cotton growing counties, a 20% separate corn borer refuge must be planted with Optimum AcreMax XTreme products. HXX - Herculex® XTRA contains the Herculex I and Herculex RW genes. LL - Contains the LibertyLink® gene for resistance to Liberty® herbicide. YGCB – The YieldGard® Corn Borer gene offers a high level of resistance to European corn borer, southwestern corn borer and southern cornstalk borer; moderate resistance to corn earworm and common stalk borer; and above average resistance to fall armyworm. RR2 - Contains the Roundup Ready® Corn 2 trait that provides crop safety for over-the-top applications of labeled glyphosate herbicides when applied according to label directions.
Herculex® XTRA Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred. Herculex® and the HX logo are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
YieldGard®, the YieldGard Corn Borer Design and Roundup Ready® are registered trademarks used under license from Monsanto Company.
Liberty®, LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer.
Agrisure® is a registered trademark of, and used under license from, a Syngenta Group Company. Agrisure® technology incorporated into these seeds is commercialized under a license from Syngenta Crop Protection AG.