Corteva Agrisciences is showcasing its new Bovalta brand of brown mid-rib silage corn hybrids at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show near Woodstock.
The firm says the brand bring together the work and genetic legacy of the companies that merged to establish Corteva, (notably Pioneer Seeds) and sets a new standard for agronomics, standability and yield for the category.
Greg Stopps, an agronomist with Corteva, said the line of hybrids was grown only in plots in Ontario last year, and two heat-unit varieties were introduced commercially this season.
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Corn with BMR technology, in use for over a decade among silage corn growers in Ontario, is known for its high digestibility and lower content of non-digestible fibre (NDF) when compared to traditional silage varieties. This translates into more milk produced per pound of silage consumed.
But the most widely-recognized drawback with BMR in the past, Stopps admitted, has been lower yield potential.
“If you’re growing BMR, you just know you’re going to have to grow a couple more acres to get the same amount of silage.”
Standability has also been a challenge if weather conditions prevent harvest at ideal moisture levels.
Varieties developed for the Bovalta brand, however, have shown improvements on both fronts. And this has happened while maintaining the advantage BMR has in terms of milk production.
Last year’s difficult harvest conditions, when dairy producers sometimes had difficulty getting into the field to harvest corn silage at the optimum moisture level, provided insight into the performance of the Bovalta hybrids. And it was positive insight.
“I heard good feedback from last year,” Stopps said.
