- We talk about the corn season with Michał Karwat from KWS Polska during the Agro Show 2024.
- It evaluates the growing season of this crop and provides recommendations for the following season.
The number of corn fields cut for grain is growing every day. Therefore, we can say more and more about how corn has coped in another stressful year. This is one of the topics we talked about with Michałek Karwat from KWS Polska during this year's jubilee Bednary Agro Show.
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The drought affected the silage corn harvest, which was not high everywhere. According to Michał Karwat, fortunately we do not have to worry about a situation like last year, where there will be a lack of feed in some region due to extreme drought. Podlasie and Mazovia had little water and there the yields are indeed lower, but the feed base will be more or less maintained. And which varieties did best this season?
– As for silage, early varieties, not so popular, did great, because the market for early silage corn is quite small, nevertheless varieties with FAO 230 did quite well. At the other end of the spectrum are varieties from the beginning of the group of medium-late varieties with FAO 260-270. These also did quite well – says Michał Karwat KWS Polska.
As he adds, the results of both groups were comparable in terms of biomass yield, with more starch being obtained from the early ones, because the cobs were better grained (a condition if the variety managed to escape drought stress during flowering). In such varieties, the energy yield is sufficient. In the case of the later varieties, despite the fact that they were pollinated correctly, this moment of drought at the beginning of August caused premature grain drying and while the biomass yield itself is, let's say, within acceptable limits, the energy yield will be several or a dozen percent lower there.
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Grain is dry but poorly filled
Water deficit also affected grain corn. Stress conditions determined the level of ear development. As Michał Karwat said, establishing an average yield of approximately 8 t/ha, as published by the Central Statistical Office, in areas affected by drought these yields will be even 20-30% lower. The south of Wielkopolska and Wielkopolska in general look quite good in this respect.
In his opinion, the situation is slightly worse in the group of medium-early varieties (FAO 230 to early FAO 250). Here, depending on the flowering date and specific features of the variety, the situation may look different. According to Michał Karwat, the dent varieties look good, which, because they have to be sown a bit later and in warm soil, therefore their flowering date fortunately fell at this moment, where even one storm rainfall saved the matter of pollination of the cobs.
Karwat is an advocate of cultivating the latest varieties possible in a given region. In his opinion, this allows them to realize their yield potential. He believes that if we reach for lower FAO, we should do so for crop rotation reasons (e.g. when we plan to sow winter cereals at the optimal time), or due to the legal framework imposed by the common agricultural policy.
Well-filled cobs with grain are the result of good weather during the corn flowering period. Photo AK
From Michał Karwat's point of view, the ultra-early varieties, FAO 160, 180, 190, did great, they flowered before the drought period and after pollination could easily build up a yield.
What will be the corn harvest in 2024?
It is still difficult to talk about average yields. The yields will certainly be varied. As long and wide as Poland is, the results obtained are within a wide range. The first signals indicate that the yields from the Podlasie region are unfortunately often around 6-9 tons/ha. In the south of Wielkopolska, there are signals that the yields from these latest varieties on a wet basis reach even 18-19 tons/ha, which, when converted to dry, gives a very good result.
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Very dry grain
The specific weather conditions of this year have meant that the grain is exceptionally dry this year. In the case of these earliest varieties, we can sometimes even say that the corn was harvested dry, because some varieties left the field with moisture below 14%.
In general, dent varieties gave off water very quickly due to the nature of the grain and the rate of drying. In the period before the September cooling, i.e. at the beginning of September, they dried at a lightning pace.
The entire conversation is available in the video below: