Sponsored: Limagrain
Sowing 40.000 silage maize fields
With 2 teams, maize breeder Limagrain Nederland (LG) is busy sowing 40.000 fields of silage maize. On these fields, spread over 21 locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, the test hybrids are tested for agricultural properties, yield and nutritional value.
After 3 years of testing, the very best hybrids are registered for official independent variety research by Wageningen Plant Research.
Yield and yield security
In addition to the 40.000 silage maize fields, 8.000 grain maize fields are sown, in total about 2 weeks of work for the sowing teams. The main breeding goals in this largest silage maize breeding program in Europe are yield and yield security.
Yield at Limagrain means a total digestible yield: a high dry matter yield and a high nutritional value, which comes from the starch and from the residual plant. Because the starch yield is already almost at its maximum, LG mainly focuses on increasing the cell wall digestibility. Thanks to the increasing cell wall digestibility, the VEM per kg dm of silage maize is higher every year, because the energy from the residual plant can be used better.
After the test field sowing has been completed, the maize breeders proceed to closely monitor the development of the hybrids. The trial fields are harvested in the autumn with measurements of yield and nutritional value. Based on all this data, the hybrids are selected for further testing.
