Maize

Now established as main stay forage on most farms Grainfarmers Arable Ltd has a wide range of maize varieties to offer, chosen by a dedicated team and drawn from various breeders.

With a good understanding of the maize crop, varieties are selected to suit specific soil types and farm locations to ensure high quality crops are achieved by our customers. Growing a successful crop requires a thorough understanding of its husbandry and at Grainfarmers Arable we can provide the information demanded by both the new and seasoned grower.

2008 Forage Maize Variety Portfolio

Maturity Class 10
ES PRIDE (breeder: Euralis)
·Extreme earliness with 9% yield advantage over Nancis
·High ME of 11.3MJ/kg of DM, plus very high starch – 35.7%
·Only for use in special short season situations
·Good standing and fast dry-down

Maturity Class 9
PR39B29 (breeder: Pioneer)
·Very early variety with fast dry-down of the stover
·Offers good yields for this maturity class with consistently good levels of starch
·Best suited to late drilling situations, i.e. after first cut silage
·Ideal for Northern regions and marginal sites in the South
·Not recommended for particularly cold or exposed sites

ES BOWLING (breeder: Euralis)
·New for 2008
·Good starch yields at 102% of control
·Similar yields to Kingdom, but with higher ME
·Good standing power
·Trials have shown that it is best drilled at 40,000 seeds per acre

Maturity Class 8
KONSORT (breeder: KWS)
·New for 2008
·Highest yielding maturity class 8 or above
·Well above average DM yields of 105% of controls
·Very high feed value and Starch content
·Uniform well filled cobs with good grain maturity
·Excellent early vigour and standing power
·Click here for technical sheet on KONSORT

NIMROD (breeder: Advanta)
·High yielding maturity class 8 on the less favoured list – 16.18t/ha DM
·Excellent early vigour score of 9.1
·Early harvest allowing the sowing of a follow on crop
·Out yields MAS 09A and Cixxom, worth an extra £29+ per acre
·Click here for technical sheet on NIMROD

PR39A44 (breeder: Pioneer)
·Won many supporters since its introduction in 2006
·A uniform and impressive tall crop with an upright leaf growth habit
·Well adapted to most maize growing sites in the UK
·Very good early vigour and good standing power
·Popular choice on unfavourable sites

PR39D60 (breeder: Pioneer)
·New for 2008
·A large stature high yielding variety
·No significant agronomic weaknesses
·Very good early vigour with fast stover dry down

Maturity Class 7
KLAYMORE (breeder: KWS)
·New for 2008
·Good yields of DM and starch of 105% respectively
·Excellent performer in the field with exceptional quality characteristics
·Very good early vigour
·Produces impressive looking medium-tall leafy plants
·Cobs are well developed and very uniform
·Click here for technical sheet on KLAYMORE

ES AGREEMENT (breeder: Euralis)
·Very popular variety in 2007
·Good combination of yield and maturity with a dry matter yield of 104%, DM content 32.6%
·Consistent performance in NIAB trials
·Large plant bulk and good cob maturity drives production
·A good all-rounder variety

JUSTINA (breeder: Pioneer)
·One of the highest selling maize hybrids in the UK
·Very reliable with high yields of grain and forage
·Grow on all soil types in major maize growing areas
·Uniform impressive tall crop with upright leaf growth habit
·Good ‘all rounder’

Maturity Class 6
KROSEUS (breeder: KWS)
·Maturity call 6 on less favourable sites and 7 on favourable sites
·Offers very high yields of forage and starch, DM yield 110% of control and starch yield of 5.9t/ ha
·Highest yielding of any maturity class 6
·Good standing power and early vigour
·Gaucho seed treatment available for the control of wire worm
·Click here for technical sheet on KROESUS

PR39M48 (breeder: Pioneer)
·Very high yield potential with excellent ear size and grain development
·Large cob at maturity
·Good early vigour and standing power
·It should not be planted in late drilling situations

Grain Maize Varieties and Production

MERIBEL
·High yield grain yield and high grain maturity make it one of the best for grain maize production
·Excellent early vigour and best standing power of any potential grain maize variety
·Grain quality under evaluation for micronising
·Bullet-proof variety grown from south west Scotland to Cornwall

BALTIS
·Best variety in the recent NIAB grain maize trials
·Yield 105% of controls and mean yield of 8.6t/ha
·Most widely grown variety of the current grain types in the UK
·Lower grain moisture at harvest allowing earlier threshing of grain off the spindle
·Good yields of grain can be maximised with use of irrigation at flowering on light soils

Maize for Grain Production

·Lodging resistance is essential when harvesting maize for grain since harvest will not be before the end of October in most years.
·The plant will be dried out by autumn winds and early frosts so that the crop looks dead. The lower the moisture content in the kernels at harvest, the cheaper the drying charges that will be incurred.
·Grain maize is harvested at 30 % moisture and produce must be dried straight off the combine to ensure that grain moisture is reduced to 15% for long term storage.
·A combine snapper header allow faster harvesting and cleaner samples to be produced since only the cob is processed by the combine rather than the whole plant.

Growing Season

·Maize for grain production should be drilled at a seed rate of 42,000 seeds/acre to establish 40,000 seeds/acre (98,000/ha) to accelerate kernel dry down at harvest and to maximise cob size and grain yield.
·Grain crops should be grown using the same husbandry guidelines as forage maize. Remove soil compaction, ensure sufficient crop nutrients are available to the plant by using placement phosphate and ensure a high potash level for good cob development. In an arable rotation weed control should be cheap with only one application being required on many fields.
·Opportunities exist for selling standing crops to dairy farmers, particularly in dry years when forage stocks are low.

For more details on the above varieties or for a copy of any available variety leaflets, please contact toby.green@grainfarmers.co.uk or phone Toby on 01962 794605.