Relationship of Corn Silage Yields to Maturity 1

Ten years of corn silage yield trials were used to calculate regressions of fresh silage and silage dry matter yields on maturity. Fresh silage yields of late hybrids were considerably higher than those of early hybrids. However, dry matter yields of the early hybrids were nearly as high as those of the late entries. Thus harvest and storage costs per unit of dry matter production would be higher for the late hybrids. Greater dry matter storage losses also would be expected from silage made from the late hybrids. Finally, silage made from early hybrids has a higher feeding value, primarily because an animal can consume more pounds of dry matter per day of dry silage than of wet. For these reasons, in areas where early maturity is a major consideration it is suggested that hybrids used for silage should be fully as early as the best adapted grain hybrids for that region.