Results from F.I.R.S.T. (Farmer's Independent Research of Seed Technologies) 2004 corn silage tests are available on the company's Web site.
Last year's tests, at eight Pennsylvania locations, were the first silage trials done by the company, which annually does corn and soybean grain-yield trials in several states. The trials are in on-farm test strips, not research plots.
Robin Kauffman, F.I.R.S.T. manager at Mount Joy, PA, started the silage tests because about half the corn grown in his area is harvested for silage.
Roughly 50 hybrids were tested. Some are silage-only hybrids; others are conventional hybrids chosen for whole-plant digestibility. All were evaluated for yield and several quality parameters, including NDF digestibility and potential milk production per ton and per acre. The results are at www.agsci.com/First/first.cfm.