Early maturing maize variety Yukon is quickly establishing itself as a firm favourite for livestock farmers, thanks to its earliness and potential to deliver ‘phenomenal starch yields’. It has performed exceptionally well in Mole Valley Farmer’s maize trial located in Cornwall. However, to maximise yields of any maize variety, it’s essential to also pay attention to soil nutrition and structure, says MVF agronomist Graham Ragg.

Bred by leading maize breeder Limagrain, Yukon has just made its debut onto the 2013 NIAB List. Here, it is amongst the top 10% starch yielding varieties on the NIAB list, capable of delivering over 6 tonnes/hectare of starch.

Limagrain’s Tim Richmond explains: “Yukon is an excellent variety choice for dairy rations: it high starch content complements the sugars of grass silage. When cereals costs are high, there’s an even greater economic advantage to choosing high starch maize varieties like Yukon.

“In the south west region where most sites are marginal, maize varieties need to be grown which are early maturing. Last year, wet weather delayed drillings, and then there was a shortage of summer sunshine and warmth, followed by a wet autumn.

"This effectively shortened the growing season and meant that some later maturing maize varieties did not reach the cob maturity needed to reach their genetic starch potential. On the other hand, crops of the very early maturing varieties, like Yukon, were largely able to reach the target 32-35% DM needed for maximum energy in the clamp.

Pay attention to crop agronomy Achieving a good yield from a maize crop isn’t all about variety choice, however. It’s also essential to provide the correct nutrition and care of the crop, as Mole Valley Farmers’ agronomist Graham Ragg is keen to explain: “Maize growers need to ensure the fundamentals of good soil nutrition and soil structure are met.

“Harvesting in wet conditions last year will have created compaction and this needs to be resolved by subsoiling, before any crops – especially maize – are sown.

“As for soil nutrition, a lot of maize growers simply aren’t providing enough nutrients to support the high dry matter yields of a crop of maize. And on sloping fields, nutrients can often be washed away by rain. So it’s always a good idea to check the soil indices of a field, at least every 4 years, so that nutrient requirements can be determined and calculations made on how best to utilise slurry before purchasing extra fertiliser.”

“Weed control is also important,” says Mr Ragg. “For a good clean crop, both a pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicide are usually required.”

Dairy farmer Graham Duke, of South Bridgtown Farm, near Werrington pays attention to both crop agronomy and variety choice. As was demonstrated in 2011, when his maize silage won MVF’s Forage for Profit competition. Mr Duke grows maize for forage for his herd, as well as hosting the variety trial site for MVF.

His agronomist Mr Ragg, explains: “Fields are soil-tested every three to four years – so we can check the pH is 6.5-7.0, and apply lime if necessary to correct it. Graham also tends to put on more nitrogen and potash than most farmers: he spreads plenty of slurry as well as applying 150-200kg/acre of 16:0:30, plus at drilling he puts 50kg/acre of DAP ‘down the spout’.”

Last year, Mr Duke put half of his maize acreage down to Yukon, impressed by its performance and ‘phenomenal starch yields’ in MVF’s 2011 maize trial.

The crop was drilled on the May 10, and herbicides sprayed pre and post-emergence. Thanks to its early maturity Yukon was ready for harvesting on October 22, and yielded 18t/acre freshweight, analysing out at 31% DM and 34% starch.

Mr Ragg adds: “Growing varieties with earliness is a good insurance for crop maturity, as we can never predict the weather. So it ensures a variety’s full potential for starch yield is reached.”

South West Farmer: Yukon seed drilling-MVF trial site

Drilling maize at the Mole Valley Farmers' trial site last spring

In MVF’s 2012 maize trial in which 13 varieties were evaluated, Yukon had the highest DM yield of 14.01t/ha (trials average was 10.4t/ha) and the highest starch yield of 4.70t/ha (average in the trial was 3.2t/ha). (please insert the drilling picture near this paragraph) Yukon’s high starch yield, together with its superb early cob maturity and good standing power make it very suitable for combining for its grain once it has reached a 25-35 per cent moisture content. It can then be processed into crimped maize. Alternatively, the whole of the cob can be cut and made into corn cob mix (Ground Ear Maize, GEM).

Mr Richmond adds: “All in all, Yukon is a versatile, very early maturing maize variety, with superb early vigour and high starch potential. Together with its excellent standing power, it has the flexibility to be used for forage maize, or left longer in the field to make corn cob mix, or left even longer before combining for crimped maize. Why not give it a try this season?”

For more information on Yukon visit www.limagrain.co.uk/maize/.