Preventing mycotoxin in late-planted corn silage, is it possible?

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the primary toxins of concern. It is caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum and causes both Gibberlla stalk rot and Gibberlla ear rot, making it of concern for both the quality of the grain and forage.  Over the last two years, Wisconsin has been working to better understand DON concentrations in silage. Interestingly, when they use a high quality BMR hybrid, they did not see any improvement in digestibility with the fungicide. The first year under low disease pressure, they saw that in all cases but one that an application of fungicide at R1 reduced DON concentrations by at least 50%. This R1 application window is from the start of silking until 10 days after. The trial was then expanded for 2018, which was a high disease pressure year with DON concentrations as high as 17.9 ppm in one hybrid and 30.3 ppm in the other hybrid. Again, fungicide had little effect on these two BMR hybrids yield or forage quality, but a few products did consistently lower DON concentrations. The timing of application was not the same this time across all effective products. Proline at R1, Delaro at R2, and Miravis Neo at V6 all lowered DON concentrations, but concentrations were still over 7 ppm. The study also compared DON concentrations in the ears and the stalk. Interestingly the two hybrids were not the same; one had higher concentrations in the stalk and the other had higher concentrations in the ear. The ability to have high toxin level in the stalk means we will need to scout even late planted corn that may have low grain yields. More information: https://dairy.osu.edu/newsletter/buckeye-dairy-news/volume-21-issue-4/foliar-fungicides-corn-silage-benefit-or-expense

Updated: 8/2/2019

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