Evaluating performance of corn hybrids for silage production on Wisconsin farms J.G. Lauer, R.D. Shaver, J.G. Coors, P. Hoffman and N. DeLeon University of Wisconsin-Madison XV th International Silage Conference Madison, WI July 27-29, 2009 1
2009 Silage Locations Corn Agronomy Program 85 and earlier Spooner Rice Lake 85-90 Chippewa Falls 90-95 Marshfield 95-100 Coleman Valders Rationale and Situation A one bushel increase by WI corn farmers increases farm income $8 to $16 million dollars. In 2009, 524 corn hybrids were tested at 13 locations (grain= 403, silage= 199). Galesville 100-105 Objective 105-110 Arlington Fond du Lac To provide unbiased performance comparisons of hybrid seed corn available in Wisconsin. Lancaster 110-115 2
Overview UW Silage Consortium Established proof of concept Problems to overcome NIR Equipment Presentation of data MILK2006 Repeatability High v. Low Quality checks Estimates Where are we going? Starch digestibility New NDFD procedure (Combs) 3
Desirable Forage Characteristics What makes a good forage? (Carter et al., 1991) High yield High energy (high digestibility) High intake potential (low fiber) High protein Proper moisture at harvest for storage Ultimate test is animal performance Milk2006 is our best predictor for performance (Shaver equation) 4
Conclusions from UW Corn Silage Research Consortium (Coors et al., 1995) Ranking among corn hybrids for silage yield and quality is repeatable. Range among commercial WI hybrids for silage NDF and digestibility is narrow. Highest grain yielding hybrids are not necessarily the highest silage yielding hybrids. High grain-to-stover ratios do not necessarily improve silage quality, but are desired to insure adequate fermentation and preservation 5
Breeding (DeLeon, Coors) Hybrid evaluation (Coors, Shaver and Lauer) UW Corn Silage Research Areas Where have we been?! Management for yield AND quality Population (Cusicanqui) Planting date (Darby) Row spacing (Lauer) Soil fertility (Bundy) Harvest Timing (Darby) Cutting height (Cusicanqui) Special situations Frost (Lauer) Hail (Lauer et al.) Grain equivalents / LDP (Lauer) Ensiling Mycotoxins (Smiley) Inoculants (Muck) 6
Equipment Development 7
Predicted from Global Predicted from Global Predicted from Global Predicted from Global 2003 NIRS Global Equation Calibration 12 10 8 6 4 90 85 80 75 70 Crude protein (%) N= 754 R² = 0.91 4 6 8 10 12 Measured in Lab In vitro digestibility (%) N= 533 R² = 0.79 70 75 80 85 90 Measured in Lab 8 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 Neutral detergent fiber (%) N= 754 R² = 0.89 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 Measured in Lab Starch content (%) N= 255 R² = 0.91 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Measured in Lab
Silage Performance Index (Milk2006) 33000 32000 HiDF3110-6 Southern Late Trial 2008 TMF2Q733 DKC61-69(VT3) 77125T 31000 6100VT2 TMF2Q716 Milk per Acre (lb/a) 30000 29000 28000 27000 8221VT3 TMF2W726 6818VT3 FS60AV3 1X-911HxTLL 3P-616RRYGPL FS60JV3 645TS 4822B EX27 RK844VT3 7K456 C649VT3 FS6299VT3 TMF2P719 5X-512RRHxT TMF2Q759RK829VT3 3A-313RR 82K79GT 32T84 HiDF3012-6 6069AS3GT 3T-310VT3 A6459VT3 A6474VT3 7T231 DKC63-42(VT3) 3T-514VT3 EX35 6831TS F2F797 LG2552VT3 1X-716HxTLL SB710RR SP573VT3 F2F725 26000 FS61AV3 3T-311VT3 0A-016 25000 RFS610RR 24000 7068Bt NG6834 2800 2900 3000 3100 3200 Milk per Ton (lb/t)
Correlation coefficients (r) of silage traits with Milk per Ton estimates N = 3727 treatment means r-values Milk2006 Milk2000 Milk1995 Milk1991 NDF -0.46-0.40-0.94-0.99 Starch 0.48 0.44 0.75 0.74 NDFD 0.49 0.70 0.16-0.10 StarchD 0.30 0.21-0.25-0.27 10
Trait What is an average hybrid? (1995-2008) N Forage yield NDF NDFD Starch Milk per Ton Milk per Acre T/A % % % Lbs/T Lbs/A Bmr 56 6.2 48.3 68.4 26.3 3380 21300 CB 343 7.9 46.5 60.2 30.5 3260 25600 CB, LL 142 7.9 46.6 60.2 30.5 3250 25700 CB, RR 161 7.8 46.1 60.0 31.4 3270 25600 CB,CR,RR 171 7.8 46.1 59.9 31.2 3270 25400 Leafy 96 7.8 48.2 59.3 27.5 3190 24900 RR 125 7.6 47.0 59.4 30.2 3220 24500 Normal 1304 7.6 47.1 60.0 29.7 3230 24500 LSD(0.05) 0.8 2.7 1.8 3.9 110 2500 Average hybrid 2665 8.0 46.7 59.8 30.6 3240 26000 11
Performance of Silage Quality Check Hybrids Criteria: 1) 5% Yield increase, 2) NDF= high v. low (1995-2006, n = 139 trials) Cohort Forage yield NDF NDFD Starch Milk per Ton Milk per Acre High 7.87 46.0 61.1 31.2 3290 25900 Low 8.12 48.2 60.8 28.6 3210 26100 Trial Mean 7.70 46.8 61.0 30.4 3260 25200 LSD (0.05) 0.14 0.42 NS 0.50 20 500 12
Materials and Methods Within a year, all production zones test the same set of hybrids at 2 or 3 locations (3 reps). Repeatability estimated using: R = V G V G + V GE /e + V e /re where V G, V GE, and V E refer to variance due to genotype, genotype by environment, and error. Coefficients e and r refer to the number of environments and replications. 85 and earlier Spooner Rice Lake 85-90 Chippewa Falls 90-95 Marshfield 95-100 Galesville 100-105 Coleman Valders 105-110 Arlington Fond du Lac Lancaster 110-115 13
Repeatability of Corn Silage Traits in Wisconsin Production Zones (1995-2008) Trait North North Central South Central South Literature* Early Early Late Early Late Early Late Forage yield 0.32 0.59 0.54 0.66 0.60 0.58 0.66 0.58-0.78 Crude protein 0.45 0.65 0.59 0.66 0.59 0.66 0.71 0.69-0.81 NDF 0.61 0.50 0.59 0.48 0.50 0.50 0.58 0.65-0.77 IVTD 0.64 0.62 0.64 0.49 0.53 0.51 0.62 0.60-0.78 NDFD 0.76 0.74 0.74 0.73 0.70 0.71 0.74 0.36-0.84 Starch 0.60 0.58 0.69 0.66 0.69 0.62 0.72 0.74 M06t 0.56 0.56 0.63 0.44 0.53 0.45 0.62 0.72 M06a 0.26 0.50 0.51 0.54 0.49 0.44 0.55 -- *Values derived from Coors et al., 1996; Lorenz and Coors, 2007 14
Repeatability Repeatability of Silage Traits in Northern Wisconsin 1.0 Milk per Acre Forage yield Milk per Ton NDFD Starch 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 15
Repeatability Repeatability of Silage Traits in Southern Wisconsin 1.0 Milk per Acre Forage yield Milk per Ton NDFD Starch 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Late trial 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 21
Economic savings Why is hybrid testing important? Average difference between top- and bottom-performing hybrid in a trial: Forage yield = 3.1 T DM/A = 6.9 Mg DM ha -1 Milk per Ton = 477 lbs Milk/T DM = 238 kg Milk Mg -1 Milk per Acre = 11,500 lbs Milk /A = 12,900 kg Milk ha -1 Quality traits, especially NDFD, are repeatable so farmers can make hybrid selection decisions. There is a larger GxE effect on forage yield than on quality traits. Thus, we need more testing sites to adequately test for yield relative to quality. 22
The End For Now Questions? Thanks for your attention! Jorge Cusicanqui Heather Darby Palle Pedersen Trenton Stanger Zhe Yan Justin Hopf Steve Wilkens Kent Kohn Thierno Diallo Keith Hudelson John Gaska Tim Wood Dwight Mueller Darwin Frye Mike Bertram Jim Coors Randy Shaver Natalia De Leon Pat Hoffman Johnny Pendleton Paul Carter Roger Higgs Larry Bundy Ed Oplinger Greg Roth Peter Thomison Roger Elmore Kurt Thelen Emerson Nafziger Chad Lee Funding Sources: Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board, Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, Seed Companies, USDA-Hatch, National Crop Insurance Services Photo by Justin Hopf 23