Next Article in Journal
Field–Road Operation Classification of Agricultural Machine GNSS Trajectories Using Spatio-Temporal Neural Network
Next Article in Special Issue
Effect of Poultry Litter Application Method and Rainfall and Delayed Wrapping on Warm-Season Grass Baleage
Previous Article in Journal
Soil Aggregates Stability Response to Summer Fallow Tillage in Rainfed Winter Wheat Fields on the Loess Plateau
Previous Article in Special Issue
Fermentation Profile, Nutritional Quality and Microbial Populations of Melon Plant Biomass Silage Ensiled with Corn Bran
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Yield, Nutritional Composition, and In Vitro Ruminal Digestibility of Conventional and Brown Midrib (BMR) Corn for Silage as Affected by Planting Population and Harvest Maturity

by
Omar Manuel Peña
1,
Cesar Velasquez
1,
Gonzalo Ferreira
2 and
Matias Jose Aguerre
1,*
1
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
2
School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agronomy 2023, 13(5), 1414; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051414
Submission received: 26 April 2023 / Revised: 16 May 2023 / Accepted: 17 May 2023 / Published: 20 May 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospects for the Development of Silage and Green Fodder)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of corn-planting population, using two conventional (Conv) and two brown-midrib (BMR) hybrids, and maturity stage at harvest on forage dry-matter (DM) yield, silage quality, and in-vitro fiber digestibility. The study was conducted in two fields with contrasting production potential, where both corn hybrids were planted at a theoretical planting population of 59,000, 79,000, and 99,000 seeds/ha. Corn was harvested at the early-dent (early) or 2/3 milk-line (late) maturity stage. An interaction between planting population and field existed for biomass yield. We observed a consistent increase in forage yield with increased planting population only in the field of higher production potential. Corn hybrids that contained the BMR trait did not penalize yield but had a consistently higher digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (aNDFom) compared to conventional hybrids. Except for starch concentration, no interaction existed between planting population and maturity for forage yield, fiber digestibility, and nutritional composition. A response to increasing planting population on starch concentration was observed only when corn was harvested at the L = late maturity stage. In conclusion, increasing corn-planting population may increase forage yield, but such an effect may depend on the soil’s growing potential. In addition, planting population had a negligible effect on the nutritional composition and fiber digestibility of corn silage and was minimally affected by the maturity stage at harvest.
Keywords: corn-biomass yield; fiber digestibility; brown midrib; planting density corn-biomass yield; fiber digestibility; brown midrib; planting density

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Peña, O.M.; Velasquez, C.; Ferreira, G.; Aguerre, M.J. Yield, Nutritional Composition, and In Vitro Ruminal Digestibility of Conventional and Brown Midrib (BMR) Corn for Silage as Affected by Planting Population and Harvest Maturity. Agronomy 2023, 13, 1414. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051414

AMA Style

Peña OM, Velasquez C, Ferreira G, Aguerre MJ. Yield, Nutritional Composition, and In Vitro Ruminal Digestibility of Conventional and Brown Midrib (BMR) Corn for Silage as Affected by Planting Population and Harvest Maturity. Agronomy. 2023; 13(5):1414. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051414

Chicago/Turabian Style

Peña, Omar Manuel, Cesar Velasquez, Gonzalo Ferreira, and Matias Jose Aguerre. 2023. "Yield, Nutritional Composition, and In Vitro Ruminal Digestibility of Conventional and Brown Midrib (BMR) Corn for Silage as Affected by Planting Population and Harvest Maturity" Agronomy 13, no. 5: 1414. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051414

APA Style

Peña, O. M., Velasquez, C., Ferreira, G., & Aguerre, M. J. (2023). Yield, Nutritional Composition, and In Vitro Ruminal Digestibility of Conventional and Brown Midrib (BMR) Corn for Silage as Affected by Planting Population and Harvest Maturity. Agronomy, 13(5), 1414. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051414

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop