NK Bull tops maize list for ME yield
NK Bull has topped the official NIAB forage maize Descriptive List 2012, for the highest yield of Metabolisable Energy (ME) per hectare. The high ME yield of NK Bull can enable dairy and beef farmers to drive profitable production, whilst minimising the use of costly brought in energy rations.
Published at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show today (6th September), the NIAB List is the definitive guide to maize variety selection and enables growers to instantly compare ME yield per hectare, according to Nigel Padbury of Syngenta. For profitable milk yields and livestock growth rates it is all about ME, and nothing delivers more per hectare than NK Bull, he advises.
NK Bull is the first choice variety on the 2012 Descriptive List for favourable sites, where it produced an ME yield of over 228,380 MJ/ha with an ME content of 11.66 MJ/Kg DM. Very high dry matter yields secure forage supplies for the winter, with very high cell wall digestibility ensuring good feed value.
Mr Padbury highlighted NK Bull rapidly develops early-season cobs to produce its exceptional energy yield, whilst also retaining the valuable leaf and stem digestibility when other varieties start to fall away. As a result it consistently delivers a higher energy yield per hectare at harvest than other varieties. It retains this high energy level over an extended period in the autumn – giving growers greater flexibility in harvest timing whilst still achieving high quality forage.
He believes growers must look at a maize varietys yield of metabolisable energy (ME) per hectare to get the maximum return from the crop. The leaf and stem component of the true forage maize type that will deliver 50% of the energy in the clamp and is crucial for overall digestibility, rather than simply cob and starch content. Thats where a Stay-Young variety such as NK Bull really delivers for growers.
Mr Padbury calculates that every 5000 MJ/ha of energy from the maize crop is worth around 245 of milk output per hectare (5.3MJ energy per litre of production @26ppl). With other maize varieties on the NIAB List producing an average ME yield of around 212,000 MJ/ha, the performance of NK Bull equates to an additional milk output value worth over 850/ha, compared to the average maize crop. The financial performance of high ME maize reinforces the importance of selecting the right variety, he added.
South Wales dairy farmer, David Jones, reports high ME and starch yields are the key drivers of production on his 140-cow herd near Abergavenny, with silage feed quality paramount. Ive grown NK Bull for four years and have reliably been very pleased with the results. It crops exceptionally and the cows milk well on it – eating an incredible 45kg of fresh weight TMR per cow per day, with 50% maize in the ration.
The NIAB Descriptive List confirms that nothing delivers more ME yield per hectare than NK Bull.
NK Bull key facts
ME Yield 228,381 MJ/ha (Top of List)
ME Content 11.66 MJ/kg DM (Very High)
Dry Matter Yield 19.6 t/ha (Very High)
Starch Yield 6.57 t/ha (Very High)
Starch Content 33.6% (High)
Cell Wall Digestibility 60.9% (Very High)
Relative Cob Maturity* Early
* In-field observations, private trials
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For UK specific maize variety, agronomy and product information go to www.syngenta-crop.co.uk/maize