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Cutting Seed Rates is False Economy Says Specialist
17th March 2009
With maize seed costing 20% more than it did last year growers can ill afford to get their seed rates wrong.
But, however tempting it may be to slash seed rates, loss of yield as a result, far outweighs the financial savings.
In fact new trials suggest that growers have been using too low a seed rate for some time, compromising both yield and quality.
The work suggests that by opting for rates of over 45,000 seeds/acre compared to the national average of 42,000 seeds/acre will boost yield whilst retaining quality. So, by investing £5/acre more in seed, growers can gain at least 1 tonne per acre more in fresh weight yield, equivalent to a 4:1 payback on the extra seed cost*.
Work carried out by Masstock at a range of trials sites across the UK aimed to examine optimum plant numbers for economic maize growing. “Our experience is that growers often fail to achieve optimum plant numbers drilling at sub-optimal seed rates in unsuitable seed bed conditions,” says Masstock maize manager, Brendan Paul.
“Equally, producing an overly dense crop can result in poor starch levels in the resultant silage and no increase in yield.
“It’s all to do with attention to detail,” he says. “And growers should be working more closely with their contractors to get the balance right between seed cost and yield benefit.”
From our data, we know that for mid-range maturing varieties such as Salgado, there’s little difference in yield or quality at seed rates of between 36 – 42,000 seeds/acre.
However, upping rates to 45,000 seeds/acre has a marked increase in yield while starch contents remain static. In addition, the DM maturity is slightly elevated with crops maturing earlier.
In contrast, planting 48,000 seeds/acre produces excess plant numbers and a dense crop where the plants compete with each other to give no yield advantage.
“Our work shows that optimum seed rates of 45,000 seeds/acre produce the optimum number of plants for UK conditions,” says Mr Paul. Crops grow effectively and dry down at just the right time.
Masstock is continuing its maize trial work to see what effect plant populations have on the new very early (maturity group 9) variety Kreel. “With earlier maturing varieties, 90% of the time growers are failing to ensure there are enough plants in the ground. Planting just 5% more seed can make all the difference,” says Mr Paul.
*Assumes 1/tn fresh weight maize silage at 30% DM ~ £26 / tn
Grains/m2 = (plants/m2/field emergence) x 100
|
Plants/m2 |
Grains/m2 |
Deposition distance (cm) |
Packs/ha |
|
|
at 75cm (30") |
at 37.5cm (15") |
|||
|
9.5 |
10.0 |
13.3 |
26.7 |
2.0 |
|
10.0 |
10.5 |
12.7 |
25.3 |
2.1 |
|
10.5 |
11.1 |
12.1 |
24.1 |
2.2 |
|
11.0 |
11.6 |
11.5 |
23.0 |
2.3 |
|
11.5 |
12.1 |
11.0 |
22.0 |
2.4 |
|
12.0 |
12.6 |
10.6 |
21.1 |
2.5 |
|
Plants/acre |
Grains/acre |
Deposition distance (cm) |
Packs/acre |
|
|
at 75cm (30") |
at 37.5cm (15") |
|||
|
36,450 |
40,500 |
13.3 |
26.7 |
0.81 |
|
38,250 |
42,500 |
12.7 |
25.3 |
0.85 |
|
40,050 |
44,500 |
12.1 |
24.1 |
0.89 |
|
42,300 |
47,000 |
11.5 |
23.0 |
0.94 |
|
44,000 |
49,000 |
11.0 |
22.0 |
0.98 |
|
45,000 |
50,000 |
10.6 |
21.1 |
1.00 |
