What is a good corn silage yield?
silage per acre can be expected for each 6 to 7 bushels of grain per acre. For example, if expected grain yield is 125 bushels per acre, corn silage yields will be about 18 to 20 tons per acre of 30% dry matter silage (5 to 6 tons per acre dry matter yield).
Why do farmers cut corn stalks in half?
A: The topping of plants is for seed corn production. The tassels are removed so that plants can only be pollinated by other plants. Hybrid seed results in much better plant vigor and yield.
Should I remove corn tillers?
Most recent research suggests that removal of tillers has little, if any, effect on corn grain yield. Tiller development in a field that was damaged or simply planted too thin MAY result in harvestable ears and thus contribute to grain yield.
How many tons of corn will one acre produce?
On this basis, “waist-high” corn at 3 to 4 feet will produce about 3 to 4 tons per acre of silage at 30 percent dry matter (about 1 ton per acre of dry matter). A more accurate way to estimate yields is to weigh the corn plants from a portion of an acre (1/100th) in several spots of the field.
What is at the top of a corn stalk?
At the top of a mature corn plant is the tassel, the male part of the plant. Along the stalk are the leaves and the ears of corn, wrapped closely in husks. Hundreds of filaments, called silk, protrude from the top of each ear. These filaments are the female flowers.
How many ears of corn do you get from one stalk?
Most sweet corn varieties will have one to two ears per plant because they are mature rapidly and are generally short statured plants. Early maturing sweet corn will have one ear while those that mature later have two harvestable ears.
At what developmental stage does corn initiate ear development?
Ear Shoot Development. By about the V5 or V6 stages of development (five to six visible leaf collars), the growing point (apical meristem) of the corn plant finishes the task of initiating leaf primordia and completes its developmental responsibilities by initiating the tassel primordium of the plant.
How many ears does a stalk of corn have?
It highly depends on how the type of corn, as previously explained. On average, corn has no more than one or two ears; some of those include sweet corn and field corn. However, there are exceptions to the number of ears on a stalk, for some distinctive ones can have up to ten ears.
How many kernels are in a row of corn?
Actual (harvestable) kernel number per ear averages between 400 and 600. For a 16-row ear, one kernel per row is equal to about five bushels per acre (for average populations). Like so many other processes in the corn plant, kernel row number determination on an ear proceeds in an acropetal fashion (from base to tip).
How does a corn plant produce an ear?
GOAL IS PRODUCING AN EAR: The main ear shoot was removed from this stalk. The plant developed an ear from the node below the original main ear. Corn Watch: The answer may surprise you.
How many ears of corn to plant per acre?
One ear of corn with 600-800 seeds is better than two ears with only 200-300 seeds. In modern cornfields in the U.S., farmers may plant 30 inch rows with 30 to 35 thousand seeds per acre resulting in that many individual plants. Some farmers are planting 12 inch rows with as many as 60,000 plants per acre!