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- Title
Moisture relationships among conventional and brown‐midrib corn hybrids for silage.
- Authors
Cherney, J. H.; Cherney, D. J. R.; Digman, M. F.
- Abstract
Much of the corn acreage in New York state is harvested as corn silage and moisture assessment in the field is necessary for predicting harvest timing, but moisture estimation visually is very problematic, particularly for brown‐midrib (BMR) hybrids. Our goal was to assess plant moisture relationships between BMR and conventional (CONV) corn hybrids, and to identify metadata that may assist in the prediction of whole plant moisture based on ear moisture estimations. In 2023, 202 corn fields were sampled in central New York from August 18 to September 27. A total of 41 different corn hybrids were sampled, with relative maturity (RM) ranging from 84 to 112 days, and 29% of the fields sampled were planted to BMR hybrids. Five representative plants per field were evaluated for plant height, ear length and width, and ear, stover, and whole plant moisture. Estimation of dry ear:stover ratio would be helpful in estimating whole plant moisture based on ear moisture. Ear length was not related to ear:stover ratio, while plant height and ear width were weakly but significantly correlated with ear:stover ratio. Ear moisture was highly correlated with ear:stover ratio (BMR, r = −0.95; CONV, r = −0.90), and highly correlated with whole plant moisture (BMR, r = 0.97; CONV, r = 0.98). Ear moisture averaged 1 to 2% units lower throughout the sampling season for BMR compared to CONV hybrids, while stover moisture averaged 1 to 2% units higher for BMR compared to CONV hybrids prior to optimum harvest moisture. Whole plant moisture declined about 0.6%units/day and was relatively similar across RM groups. Plain Language Summary: The primary key to making good corn silage is harvesting at the proper moisture content. It is extremely difficult to visually evaluate standing corn for moisture content. In particular, brown‐midrib hybrids often are diseased and lose their green color but maintain much of their moisture content. It is possible to scan corn ears with a handheld near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectrometer and predict ear moisture, as well as whole plant moisture, from only an ear scan. Although ear moisture is well related to ear:stover ratio and to whole plant moisture, it would be helpful if other data could be used to provide more information on the ear:stover ratio. We collected five corn plants per field from 202 fields in central New York in 2023, and we measured plant height, ear length, ear width, as well as ear, stover and whole plant moisture. Twenty‐nine percent of the plants collected were brown‐midrib hybrids. Ear width and plant height were weakly but significantly correlated with ear:stover.
- Subjects
NEW York (State); HYBRID corn; MOISTURE; CORN harvesting; SILAGE; CITRUS greening disease; PLANT collecting; CORN stover
- Publication
Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management, 2024, Vol 10, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2374-3832
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/cft2.20271