ucd lyons estate research farm forage maize …...forage maize seminar 2015 ucd lyons estate...

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Forage maize seminar 2015

UCD Lyons Estate Research Farm

Forage Maize Research Programme

update

Bridget Lynch

Food Harvest 2020 Targets 40% beef output value

20% sheep output value 50% milk production

Dairy production systems post quota

• Grass based systems will predominate BUT

diversification of dairy farming systems may increase

• Expansion: increase LU and/or SR

• Focus: Maximising milk output from existing land bank

• How?

• Maximising use of grazed grass/home grown forage

• Strategic use of supplementation thereafter

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug. Sept Oct. Nov Dec.

kg

DM

/ha

/da

y

Grass Growth Curve

Calf to two years

Spring calving dairy

Role of forage maize

Buffer

feed

Buffer

feed

Increase efficiency of

utilisable N in grass

Substitute conc

supplementation

UCD forage maize research objectives

• To define optimum agronomy practises to produce

high quality forage maize in marginal growing

conditions

– Film type, variety

– Herbicide programme

– Nitrogen rate and timing, N fertiliser type

– Sowing date, seeding rate

To improve decision making for maize growers in

marginal environments

• To determine the response in milk production and

composition of a high energy forage maize versus a

conventional high starch concentrate supplemented at

grass

Effect of site on yield t DM/ha film and open

(2013)

16.4

16.3

17.7

15.5

Site P<0.05

6.2 Starch (t /ha) 202 MJ (‘000s/ha)

5.8 Starch (t /ha) 205 MJ (‘000s/ha)

6.9 Starch (t /ha 215 MJ (‘000s/ha)


Effect of site on yield t DM/ha film and open

(2014)

17.6

16.7

15.6

Site P<0.01

5.3 Starch (t /ha) 206 MJ (‘000s/ha)

6.0 Starch (t /ha) 200 MJ (‘000s/ha)


Effect of site on yield t DM/ha

film versus open (2013)

17.3

16.4

19.2

16.7

Site x film

P=0.1

14.4

12.8

15.4

15.1

Film treatment Open Samco

Green

Benefit SEM Significance

Yield t DM/ha1

14.4 17.4 +3 t DM 0.29 ***

Grain yield t DM/hectare2

4.0 10.9 +6.9 t DM 0.42 ***

DM%1 23.3 31.2 +7.9 % 0.35 ***

ME (MJ/kg DM)1 11.8 12.8 +1.0 MJ 0.14 ***

Starch (%DM)1 25.8 41.6 +15.8 % 0.65 ***

Starch yield (t DM/ha) 1

3.8 7.3 +3.5 t DM 0.17 ***

ME yield (MJ ‘000s/ha) 1

171 216 +45,000 MJ 3.9 ***

*** P<0.001 1LSM across all four sites, 2LSM for North East site only

The effect of film treatment on whole

crop yield and chemical composition of

forage maize (2013)

Film treatment Open Samco

Green

Benefit SEM Significance

Yield t DM/ha1

15.8 17.7 +1.9 t DM 0.40 ***

Grain yield t DM/hectare2

4.0 10.9 +6.9 t DM 0.42 ***

DM%1 25.0 35.5 +10.5 % 0.49 ***

ME (MJ/kg DM)1 11.5 12.1 +0.6 MJ 0.04 ***

Starch (%DM)1 24.4 37.5 +13.1 % 0.86 ***

Starch yield (t DM/ha) 1

3.7 6.7 +3.5 t DM 0.18 ***

ME yield (MJ ‘000s/ha) 1

180 217 +37,000 MJ 4.7 ***

*** P<0.001 1LSM across three sites, 2LSM for North East site only

The effect of film treatment on whole

crop yield and chemical composition of

forage maize (2014)

An evaluation of the effect of herbicide

application timing and product on yield

of forage maize in 2013 & 2014

• Two timings: Pre emergence only or pre

emergence + post emergence

• Variety (P7905) and film (Samco Green),

fertiliser and seeding rate were constant

across plots and sites

2013

• Four sites 2013: Adare (SW), Cork (S),

Dublin (NE) and Waterford (SE)



• Pre herbicide treatments – SAC - Stomp Aqua + Calaris

– SADG – Stomp Aqua + Dual Gold

– SAF – Stomp Aqua + Frontier

• Post herbicide

– Alpha Bromotril P

The effect of pre and post herbicide on

weed score (June) in South and SouthWest

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Control SAC SADG SAF

PreHerbicide P <0.05

Weed s

core

1-5

Pre Herbicide

The effect of site and herbicide treatment on

weed score in Sept

0

1

2

3

4

5

Adare Bandon Waterford UCD

SAC SAC+ SADG SADG+ SAF SAF+

Site P =0.001

Post P=0.08 Pre P=0.1

Weed s

core

(1-5

)

2014

• Four sites 2014: Adare (SW), Cork (S),

Dublin (NE) and Wexford (SE)



• Pre herbicide treatments – SA - Stomp Aqua

– SADG – Stomp Aqua + Dual Gold

– SAW – Stomp Aqua + WingP

• Post herbicide – Accent

The effect of site and PreHerb on

weed score (1-5) June

0

2

4

Wexford Adare UCD Bandon

SA SADG SAW

Site x PreHerb P =0.001

Weed s

core

(1-5

)

Under film

0

2

4

Wexford Adare UCD Bandon

SA SADG SAW

Between rows

SA - Stomp Aqua SADG – Stomp Aqua + Dual Gold SAW – Stomp Aqua + WingP

Herbicide summary

• Stomp aqua + Frontier good control early

season

• Stomp aqua + Calaris good control over the

growing season

• Stomp aqua + Wing P good control especially

in challenging sites

• Post herbicide application improved weed

control

Optimal nitrogen fertilizer input

requirement (kg N/t DM) for total forage

maize production - 2013

• Site: Dublin (NE)

• Two timings: 100% at pre sowing or 50:50

• Four inorganic N rates:

– 0 kg N/ha

– 50 kg N/ha

– 100 kg N/ha

– 150 kg N/ha

– All plots received 33t/ha cattle slurry (+60Kg/ha available N)

• Second application – CAN @ 10 weeks post sowing

• Variety (P7905) and film (Samco Green), seeding rate were

constant across plots

• Measurements: Emergence %, fresh weight yield, DM%,

total DM yield, grain yield, CP, starch, ME, NDF, NUE

The effect of inorganic N on

whole crop and grain yield t DM/ha

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

0 50 100 150

kg inorganic N/ha

Whole crop Grain

Linear P <0.05

yie

ld t

DM

/ha

The effect of inorganic N and timing on

yield (t DM/ha) and CNU kg N/ha

10

12

14

16

18

20

50 100 150kg inorganic N/ha

100% 50, 50%

Time P = 0.1

yie

ld t

DM

/ha

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

50 100 150

kg inorganic N/ha

100% 50 50%

CN

U k

g N

/ha

Time P = 0.1, N x Time P = 0.1

yield (t DM/ha) CNU (kg N/ha)

Optimal nitrogen fertilizer input

requirement (kg N/t DM) for total forage

maize production - 2014 • Site: Dublin (NE)

• Two timings: 100% at pre sowing or 50:50

• Four inorganic N rates:

– 0 kg N/ha

– 50 kg N/ha

– 100 kg N/ha

– 150 kg N/ha

– All plots received 33t/ha cattle slurry (+60Kg/ha available N)

• Second application – N16 at V6-V8

• Film: Samco Green v Samco Yellow

• Variety (P7905)

• Measurements: Emergence %, fresh weight yield, DM%,

total DM yield, grain yield, CP, starch, ME, NDF, NUE

The effect of inorganic N and film type on

whole crop and grain yield t DM/ha

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

0 50 100 150kg inorganic N/ha

Green Yellow

Film = NS

Total N = P=0.005

yie

ld t

DM

/ha

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19


Green Yellow

Film = P=0.03

Whole crop Grain

The effect of inorganic N and film type on

CNU and NUE

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

210


Green Yellow

Film = NS

Total N = P=0.002

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


Green Yellow

CNU (kg N/ha) NUE kg kg-1

Film = NS

Total N = P=0.001

Green

Split N

Green

All @ sow

Yellow

Split N

Yellow

All @ sow

SEM Timing Film

Yield

t DM/ha

13.46 15.26 13.26 14.88 0.49 P<0.01

Grain yield

t DM/ha

9.23 9.72 8.80 8.37 0.49 0.08

Starch yield

t DM/ha

5.11 5.70 5.58 5.58 0.27

ME yield

MJ ‘000s/ha

166 188 162 184 5.80 P<0.001

NUE

kg kg-1

62.10 68.74 60.97 67.94 2.06 P<0.01

CNU

kg N/ha

159.4 184.4 166.2 179.1 6.19 P<0.01

The effect of film treatment and N application timing on

whole crop yield and chemical composition of forage

maize (2014)

Objectives of dairy forage maize feeding

trial


composition to high quality forage maize

supplementation at grass


composition of a high energy forage maize versus a

conventional high starch concentrate supplemented at

grass

Methodology

• 60 spring calving cows averaging 136 DIM were

assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments

• Treatment groups were balanced based on DIM, BCS

and F+P milk yield

• Cows were offered grazed grass and one of the

following dietary treatments for 7 weeks (July-August

2014):

0 kg supplementation

4 kg commercial concentrate

(12.6 MJ/kg DM and 41.6% starch)

4kg DM high energy forage maize


4kg DM low energy forage maize


Grass Grass +

Conc

Grass + L

maize

Grass + H

Maize

SEM Sig

Milk yield

kg/cow/d

22.5 23.1 22.7 25.0 0.41 P<0.001

Milk fat % 4.04 3.83 4.16 3.65 0.06 P<0.001

Milk fat

yield kg/d

0.90 0.87 0.93 0.91 0.01 NS

Milk protein

%

3.49 3.55 3.34 3.36 0.01 P<0.001

Milk protein

yield kg/d

0.79 0.81 0.85 0.84 0.01 0.001

Milk F+P

kg/d

1.69 1.69 1.68 1.75 0.03 NS

Milk lactose

%

4.30 4.38 4.32 4.34 0.01 0.001

Milk lactose

yield kg/d

0.97 1.00 0.97 1.07 0.01 0.001

The effect of dietary treatment on milk yield and

composition

The effect of mid lactation dietary

supplementation on cow BCS

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

3

3.1

3.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Week

Grazed grass Grass conc Grass HM Grass LM

Diet x week P <0.001

Cow

BCS

Conclusions

• Geographical effect on production potential

• Film produced more forage maize of higher

quality v open

• Spilt applications of fertiliser N cannot be advised

at this point

• High quality forage maize has the potential to

reduce concentrate input in dairy production mid

lactation

• Increased milk yield and BCS

• Analysis ongoing…

• Cost benefit analysis of strategic supplementation

of high quality forage maize required

Acknowledgements UCD

Stuart Kirwan

Eamon Corcoran

Karina Pierce

Eugene Brennan

Alan Kelly

Connie Grace

Edward Jordan

Ian Keating

Michael Clarke

Samco

Robert Shine

Valerie Shine

Joe Deegan

Matthew Shine

….and the post grads and farm workers

at UCD Lyons Research Farm

[email protected]

ucd lyons estate research farm forage maize …...forage maize seminar 2015 ucd lyons estate...

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