Reduced-lignin alfalfa and BMR corn silage Ev Thomas Oak Point Agronomics, Hammond, NY

Transcription

1 Reduced-ligi alfalfa ad BMR cor silage Ev Thomas Oak Poit Agroomics, Hammod, NY 1

2 Alfalfa harvest maagemet, % bloom Full bloom U.S. average milk/cow: 7500 lbs. Corell Uiversity

3 Alfalfa harvest maagemet

4 A accumulatio of isults Witer damage to alfalfa is a accumulatio of isults. Jerry Cherey, Corell Uiversity forage agroomist. Repeated harvests at the bud stage followed by aggressive fall maagemet may be eough isults to deplete alfalfa stads. Not just carbs: Harvest affects rhizobial odules ad root hairs. If 2 d, 3 rd (ad 4 th ) cut harvests are at ~30-day itervals: 50+ day iterval before a fall harvest to allow the plat to accumulate taproot carbohydrates.

5 Eter: Reduced-ligi alfalfa

6 Reduced-ligi alfalfa

7 Reduced-ligi alfalfa Believe the hype! Reduced-ligi alfalfas are up to 20% lower i ligi tha covetioal varieties. HarvXtra is Roudup Ready, Hi-Gest is o-gmo. Techology fee for HarvXtra: $300/bag across the alfalfa seed idustry. Reduced ligi alfalfa does t have a slower rate of declie i forage quality: It s higher i quality at all stages of developmet. No egative impact o stadability. Mowig a week later tha ormal for each cut may result i oe fewer harvests per year.

8 Reduced ligi alfalfa research Six-state seedig year research: CA, KS, WI, MI, OH, PA. Sprig seedig, 3 cuts. HarvXtra-008. Pioeer 54R02 selected for high yield, WL 355 RR selected for high quality. Reduced ligi alfalfa was 10% lower i NDF, 18% lower i ligi ad 10% higher i NDF digestibility. Uiversity of Wiscosi: Over four years, 15-20% higher yield with 3 vs. 4 cuts of alfalfa. (Impact of less field traffic?)

9 Other advatages of reduced-ligi alfalfa More time to harvest first cut forage grasses, complete cor platig ad other sprig fieldwork. If cuts are reduced by oe per seaso, less labor ad equipmet cost, less traffic damage. Combiatio of improved carbohydrate accumulatio + less field traffic: Oe more year of stad life? Wide widrows are a must because of higher yield.

10 Workig reduced-ligi alfalfa ito a forage system Seed a portio of the alfalfa acreage to reduced-ligi alfalfa. Choose your best alfalfa lad. Harvest ay alfalfa-grass fields first, the covetioal alfalfa, ad fially reduced-ligi alfalfa. Objective: Uiformly high forage quality from the first field harvested to the last. Exteds the ideal harvest widow.

11 Reduced ligi alfalfa: The choice Harvest at usual date Bud stage Delay harvest by 1 week Early bloom + Extremely high forage quality + Oe fewer harvest/year + Higher total yield + Improved carbohydrate status + Less wheel traffic damage

12 Cow killer? Corell Uiversity harvested prebud 1 st cut alfalfa-grass May 23 & 25 i two NY couties. The alfalfa was 27.4% NDF ad 29.4% CP! (Similar to reduded-ligi alfalfa harvested at bud stage?) Grass NDF was i the mid-50s. Jerry Cherey : I am sure more tha oe NY farmer has cow-killig alfalfa i a buker, if they are ot careful about balacig ratios. They may eed to view their alfalfa as a cocetrate.

13 More from Jerry Cherey I have tried makig the case that reduced -ligi alfalfa was really iveted for alfalfa-grass people, but the alfalfa group outside of NY still does ot kow what alfalfa-grass is, they just have a puzzled look. Fields with 2/3 reduced-ligi alfalfa + 1/3 grass, harvested whe the alfalfa is i the bud stage, should result i excellet quality forage. If Roudup is applied, grass would have to be seeded after herbicide applicatio. Worked well at Pe State.

14 Goals ad risk maagemet Eve reduced-ligi alfalfa does t allow plats to fully accumulate carbohydrates less stress, but still there. However, the goal of dairy forage maagemet is the ecoomical productio of forages that will meet the quality eeds of high producig cows. Risk ca be maaged, but some risk is uavoidable. No LHR reduced-ligi alfalfa varieties.

15 BMR Cor Silage

16 A icoveiet truth BMR cor yields less tha covetioal cor. It always has, ever sice the first Cargill BMR. Maybe it always will. Some early yield improvemet vs. covetioal hybrids, But o uiversity trial data showig that BMR is doig ay more catchig up to covetioal cor yields.

17 BMR vs. Covetioal Hybrids Corell Uiversity, Year& Hybrid Yield drag vs. cov. hybrids, % Milk/to vs. cov. hybrids, % 2007 Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Mea

18 BMR vs. Covetioal Hybrids Uiversity trials, Year & Trial Hybrid Yield drag vs. cov., % Milk/to vs. cov., % 2012 Pe State Mycoge F2F Pioeer 1376XR Mycoge F2F Wiscosi Pioeer 1449XR Wiscosi Pioeer 1449XR Pe State Mycoge F2F Mycoge F2F Pioeer 1449XR Corell Mycoge F2F Pioeer 1449XR Mea Mycoge (BM-3): 14% yield drag, +3 % milk/to Pioeer (BM-1): 10% yield drag, +2% milk/to

19 BMR gees: BM-1, BM-3 or is it all BS?

20 BMR Cor Hybrid Trial 4 Mycoge ad 2 Pioeer RM hybrids Average of four sites i souther PA % DM 35% DM Starch Ligi 24-hr NDF-d Milk/T Milk/A Mycoge Pioeer *Cov *Covetioal hybrids: Average of 3 sites. Covetioal hybrid NDF-d via NIR. BMR NDF-d via wet chemistry. Pesylvaia State Uiversity, 2015

21 Weird stuff from Mier Istitute Several chewig studies comparig BMR vs. covetioal CS: Cows ate more BMR ad rumiated miutes less per poud of NDF cosumed. Cows o the BMR ratio spet 5-10 miutes less time eatig per poud of NDF cosumed. That adds up to sigificatly less time at the feed buk-- 30 miutes less/day i oe study. Particularly importat if buk space is limited by high stockig rates.

22 BMR is just differet BMR cell walls are more fragile. May eed to chop BMR at more tha mm to get eough physically effective fiber. Cows eed a certai amout of chewig for optimum rume fuctio. Therefore, feed a high % of forage whe usig BMR, supplemet with less digestible, lower fragility forages: straw or late-cut grass.

23 BMR respose is rate-depedet For a good milk respose, BMR should be at least 20% of total ratio DMI. Optimum: 30+% Mier Istitute: BMR i four ratios, feedig rates rage from 11 to 15 lbs DM. High group cows: 29 lbs CS DM (85% of forage DM). BMR is 22% of total ratio DMI. Curret research project: 25 lbs BMR DM (44% of ratio DMI), 5 lbs haylage, 1 ¼ lbs straw. 55% forage-to-grai ratio.

24 BMR cor is just differet Top: Covetioal hybrid Bottom: BMR hybrid It looks differet. It grows differet. It tests differet. Fiber fragility is differet. It feeds differet. Some say it eve tastes differet! 24

25 Foliar fugicides for BMR cor Photo is Pesylvaia, Norther Cor Leaf Blight. Mycoge BMR hybrids were most affected but Pioeer BMRs were also blighted. May Pesylvaia farmers apply fugicides o their BMR cor but oly o BMR.

26 Should you or should t you? A tough call because most fugicide research has bee with cor harvested for grai. Fugicide more likely to be eeded (ecoomical) whe: Previous crop cor harvested for grai. Foliar disease preset i the previous cor crop. Low fields, fields surrouded by trees, river bottom. Raiy, humid summer coditios. Low foliar disease ratigs. 6+ OK, BMRs rage 4-8. Narrow rows? Possibly, but o data!

27 Decisio time For a sigle applicatio, best time is tasselig through silkig/blister stage. Early applicatio (V5) five leaves with collars is probably too early because the fugicide will be goe by the time disease hits. Disease lesios coverig >5% of the leaf area o or above the ear leaf at silkig: Cosider usig a foliar fugicide. BMR silage is worth more per to

28 Focus o what s importat BMR cor silage is such a differet forage that it s almost a differet species: Zea mays vs. Zea BMR. Fed at the right rate to the right cows, BMR should result i a 3 to 5 lb milk respose. A milk respose of 3 to 5 pouds will pay for a lot of yield drag ad other i-field challeges of BMR cor. BMR has challeges, but it puts milk i the tak.

29 Take-home messages Shorter crop rotatios ca reduce per-acre productio costs while icreasig yields. Drought-resistat cor hybrids are ew, but more efficiet water utilizatio by cor is t ew at all. For superior cor silage NDF digestibility BMR is the oly alterative. Reduced ligi alfalfa is the real deal.