In Search of the Perfect Corn
  Silage Hybrid......is there one?

The corn silage hybrid discussions continue to rage this season as various seed companies position themselves for what is still a growing market in Wisconsin. Sorting-out the "hype" from "fact" is not easy and nearly everyone involved has an opinion. In some cases, there simply is not enough research and/or field experience to come to a reliable decision. The various companies involved are positioning themselves differently in the market. With this in mind, here are some thoughts on the subject from the Fond du Lac County Extension Crops Guy.

The specialty hybrids.....

Leafy Corn:
Corn silage hybrids with the leafy gene are characterized by plants that are tall and with more leaves than normal grain hybrids. These are silage-only hybrids. It's easy to see that these hybrids are "different" in terms of the way they look, however, are they different in performance? Based on data from numerous on farm strip trials in the area over the past several years, these leafy hybrids appear to be better than some "dual-purpose" hybrids but not as good as others. This conclusion is supported by results from the UW Corn Silage Hybrid performance trial (1997) and a recently completed study at UW-Madison where both the agronomic and feeding performance of a leafy corn silage hybrid were evaluated against that of an above average dual-purpose hybrid. Comparisons were made at both low and high plant populations. The seed cost for the leafy silage hybrids is comparable to that of the better standard corn hybrids. Bottom line: Although "showy", leafy hybrids are nothing special in terms of yield and forage quality and lack dual-purpose capabilities.

Brown Midrib Corn:
Another silage-only hybrid, the brown midrib (BMR) gene was discovered over 70 years ago but now has vaulted back into the limelight with the recent availability of adapted corn hybrids. Locally, some producers have grown and fed these hybrids for two years with mixed reviews. On the plus side, these hybrids offer significantly improved forage digestibility and increased dry matter intakes. Agronomically, there still appear to be some problems and concerns in terms of lower yields (0 to 25% lower depending upon which hybrid and what trial you want to use), lodging susceptibility, and delayed maturity. A number of growers cited slow whole plant dry down rates in 1997. Moving to an earlier maturing hybrid may help this problem but may also further spread the yield gap with full-season, high-yielding dual-purpose hybrids. The seed cost for BMR corn is nearly three times the cost of standard corn hybrids. The milk response from feeding BMR corn is, quite frankly, all over the board (0 to 5+ lbs. per cow per day ). Thus, the economic advantage of growing and feeding BMR corn is going to vary greatly from farm to farm and many factors must be taken into account. A few pounds of milk gain per cow per day will pay for quite a bit of yield loss. Bottom line: Improving forage quality is on target, but agronomic performance needs to be improved and more research is needed to predict where economic milk yield increases will occur.

High Oil Corn:
Current high oil corn hybrids use the TopCross(TM) method to obtain the high oil grain (5 to 10% of the plants act merely as pollinators and contribute little to grain yield). Where utilization is for silage, the forage NEL is only slightly increased because the oil content is diluted-out by the stover portion of the plant, there is a lower percentage of starch, and the NDF percent increases. Most feeding studies show little (if any) increases in milk production from feeding high oil corn silage. Seed cost will be more than standard dual-purpose hybrids and yields will be lower. In some areas of the Midwest (including Wisconsin) in 1997, there were serious pollination problems with high oil fields being grown for grain. Bottom line: Although this technology may hold future promise, until higher yielding hybrids are available, producers are better off looking at other genetics to meet silage needs.

The dual-purpose hybrids....

There clearly are big differences between standard corn hybrids in terms of silage crop performance. These differences include, but are not limited to, both yield and forage quality. Many seed companies and the University of Wisconsin are devoting significant resources into evaluating and exploiting silage performance differences. That is, optimizing both yield and forage quality to obtain the maximum amount of nutrients per acre. Silage producers who take time to evaluate this performance data will find that it pays big dividends.

The rules for choosing a silage hybrid are no different than those that apply for a grain hybrid. Look at performance information from multiple locations, years and from more than one source. To prove this to yourself, pick a "winner" from a single location and year and then see how it performed over multiple locations and years. Chances are you'll be planting a different hybrid than your original choice.

No, there is no perfect silage hybrid. But there is currently more information for choosing silage hybrids than just a few short years ago. Take advantage of this information and don't buy silage corn from a company that can't produce silage performance data.