Observations from 2021 corn silage plot harvest

The six locations of the NY VT Corn Silage Hybrid Evaluation Program were harvested between September 3 and September 17 (with planting dates of May 7 to May 20). As the waiting game begins for samples to be analyzed for forage quality at the laboratory so this data can be analyzed and the report released, observations from our harvest can be beneficial to consider as harvest continues across the region. The trials represent locations from Western NY to NW Vermont with approximately 60 hybrids represented in 2021.

Overall, the combination of heat and moisture in the second half of the season led to the general trend of green healthy-looking plants with drier than expected ears and these observations held true for our plots. This reinforces the need to check both visual plant progress and whole plant DM to understand how the ear is progressing and its overall impact on whole plant DM. Further, a large plant with a dry ear results in a combination known to negatively impact kernel processing performance as demonstrated in a recent study funded by NYFVI, necessitating more attention to processor settings to assure acceptable processing.

Adequate heat and timely precipitation during ear development leads to expectations of higher starch contents (as long as the silage is able to reach proper whole plant DM content) as was observed recently with the 2018 and 2020 growing seasons. In contrast, a notable difference from these recent seasons is the amount of rain observed in early July (leading up to tasseling) and the expectation that this will have an overall negative impact on fiber digestibility.

Additional resources include:

• Corn Harvest Toolkit 2021
• Corn Silage Harvest Timing: Not All Growing Degree Days are Created Equal