Written by janineadamson from CPM Magazine
With an abundance of maize varieties to choose from, weighing up the pros and cons isn’t always straightforward, suggests agronomist Jim Clark.
There are currently around 70 varieties on the NIAB UK Descriptive List for forage maize and many new unlisted varieties in trials, he points out.
Jim, who works for Hutchinsons, perceives maize as the top performing forage crop with significant potential for market growth under the Sustainable Farming Incentive. He also feels it’s still the key break crop for wheat due to its ability to achieve higher gross margins than other options.
Regional nuances
However, when it comes to selecting the right variety, he says the path isn’t always clear. “Maize doesn’t travel well, so what you often find is varieties that performed well in one region of the UK don’t necessarily replicate that performance elsewhere due to differences in weather and soil types.
“The agronomic standard of maize varieties has also improved tremendously during the past 10 years and while that’s a positive, it also makes variety choice more difficult given there’s a bigger talent pool for growers to consider.”
According to Jim, when he began regional maize trials 20 years ago, he’d assess 30-40 varieties of which just 6-8 would perform well and go on to be recommended for on-farm trials with customers.
“Now, we have to look far more closely at year-on-year consistency, separating very good varieties from good ones by extending regional trials over two years before recommending a new variety to farmers.
“Following challenging growing conditions for maize in recent years, where a lack of summer sunshine has often resulted in the FAO maturity date of many maize crops stalling, growers are once again facing difficult late season harvesting conditions.
“Given these weather patterns could become the ‘new normal’, I’d certainly advise growers to look at earlier maturing varieties for 2025 given the potential weather problems,” he says.
Future predictions
Furthermore, Jim predicts a future trend towards earlier maturing, dual-use varieties and that many maize growers may even trade-off a small percentage of yield to lift crops 2-3 weeks earlier, if adverse harvest conditions continue to persist in the future.
“When weighing up the key statistics on the DL, I’d also advise growers to look at both starch content and dry matter yield (DM) rather than focusing solely on fresh-weight yield. Other key considerations should be usage: grain, biogas or feed – and what you intend to sow after the maize, whether it be wheat, a cover crop or something else.”
Rented land
For those intending to grow maize on rented land, Jim says soil sampling before planting is essential to optimise nutrition strategies. “Ultimately, it’s all about what suits your farming system best and managing expectations.
“With results in from this year’s HLH maize trials, it’s worth highlighting the new maize variety Hagrid (Elsoms Seeds). High yielding with an excellent DM percentage, it definitely looks one to watch,” he suggests.
German breeding
Daniel Ott, product manager maize international for German breeder Saaten Union, highlights the historical link between successful maize varieties bred in Germany which can then adapt then to UK conditions.
“Saaten Union has a trials network of more than 70 locations – including three in the UK – across 16 countries with more than 6,000 trial plots, so we know we have the right tools to breed varieties that can thrive in UK soils and climatic conditions.
“We also deliberately trial in locations where we can expect stressful conditions. For example, on very light and sandy soils, cold heavy soils and in sites with little annual rainfall to test drought stress during flowering. Having access to a large, diverse range of new varieties, we can then tailor these varieties to specific end-use markets such as energy maize, silage or grain,” he explains.
Further options
Daniel adds that while the number of varieties on the UK DL is significant, in Germany there’s 252 silage and 184 grain varieties along with many other EU-registered options available to growers. This makes the decision making process just, if not more, complex from a numbers perspective.
“For UK growers, usage, FAO maturity dates and yield are still key factors supported by an understanding that the UK climate may mean later harvest dates now becoming the new normal with growers leaning towards use of earlier maturing varieties.
“Having experienced a lot of success in the UK with SU Neutrino, a high-yielding biogas variety, we’ve now successfully launched SU Addition, a multi-use earlier maturing variety which produces high-energy, highly digestible quality silage for feeding, biogas and corn-cob mix.
“It’s UK registered, available to farmers for the 2025 season and is specifically bred to perform consistently in UK conditions,” he concludes.
The post Navigating the maize maze appeared first on Crop Production Magazine.
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With an abundance of maize varieties to choose from, weighing up the pros and cons isn’t always straightforward, suggests agronomist Jim Clark.
There are currently around 70 varieties on the NIAB UK Descriptive List for forage maize and many new unlisted varieties in trials, he points out.
Jim, who works for Hutchinsons, perceives maize as the top performing forage crop with significant potential for market growth under the Sustainable Farming Incentive. He also feels it’s still the key break crop for wheat due to its ability to achieve higher gross margins than other options.
Regional nuances
However, when it comes to selecting the right variety, he says the path isn’t always clear. “Maize doesn’t travel well, so what you often find is varieties that performed well in one region of the UK don’t necessarily replicate that performance elsewhere due to differences in weather and soil types.
“The agronomic standard of maize varieties has also improved tremendously during the past 10 years and while that’s a positive, it also makes variety choice more difficult given there’s a bigger talent pool for growers to consider.”
According to Jim, when he began regional maize trials 20 years ago, he’d assess 30-40 varieties of which just 6-8 would perform well and go on to be recommended for on-farm trials with customers.
“Now, we have to look far more closely at year-on-year consistency, separating very good varieties from good ones by extending regional trials over two years before recommending a new variety to farmers.
“Following challenging growing conditions for maize in recent years, where a lack of summer sunshine has often resulted in the FAO maturity date of many maize crops stalling, growers are once again facing difficult late season harvesting conditions.
“Given these weather patterns could become the ‘new normal’, I’d certainly advise growers to look at earlier maturing varieties for 2025 given the potential weather problems,” he says.
Future predictions
Furthermore, Jim predicts a future trend towards earlier maturing, dual-use varieties and that many maize growers may even trade-off a small percentage of yield to lift crops 2-3 weeks earlier, if adverse harvest conditions continue to persist in the future.
“When weighing up the key statistics on the DL, I’d also advise growers to look at both starch content and dry matter yield (DM) rather than focusing solely on fresh-weight yield. Other key considerations should be usage: grain, biogas or feed – and what you intend to sow after the maize, whether it be wheat, a cover crop or something else.”
Rented land
For those intending to grow maize on rented land, Jim says soil sampling before planting is essential to optimise nutrition strategies. “Ultimately, it’s all about what suits your farming system best and managing expectations.
“With results in from this year’s HLH maize trials, it’s worth highlighting the new maize variety Hagrid (Elsoms Seeds). High yielding with an excellent DM percentage, it definitely looks one to watch,” he suggests.
German breeding
Daniel Ott, product manager maize international for German breeder Saaten Union, highlights the historical link between successful maize varieties bred in Germany which can then adapt then to UK conditions.
“Saaten Union has a trials network of more than 70 locations – including three in the UK – across 16 countries with more than 6,000 trial plots, so we know we have the right tools to breed varieties that can thrive in UK soils and climatic conditions.
“We also deliberately trial in locations where we can expect stressful conditions. For example, on very light and sandy soils, cold heavy soils and in sites with little annual rainfall to test drought stress during flowering. Having access to a large, diverse range of new varieties, we can then tailor these varieties to specific end-use markets such as energy maize, silage or grain,” he explains.
Further options
Daniel adds that while the number of varieties on the UK DL is significant, in Germany there’s 252 silage and 184 grain varieties along with many other EU-registered options available to growers. This makes the decision making process just, if not more, complex from a numbers perspective.
“For UK growers, usage, FAO maturity dates and yield are still key factors supported by an understanding that the UK climate may mean later harvest dates now becoming the new normal with growers leaning towards use of earlier maturing varieties.
“Having experienced a lot of success in the UK with SU Neutrino, a high-yielding biogas variety, we’ve now successfully launched SU Addition, a multi-use earlier maturing variety which produces high-energy, highly digestible quality silage for feeding, biogas and corn-cob mix.
“It’s UK registered, available to farmers for the 2025 season and is specifically bred to perform consistently in UK conditions,” he concludes.
The post Navigating the maize maze appeared first on Crop Production Magazine.
Continue reading on CPM website...
If you are enjoying what you read then why not considering subscribing here: http://www.cpm-magazine.co.uk/subscribe/
