Evaluation of Narrow-Row Forage Maize in Field-Scale Studies

Some dairy producers in the northeastern USA adopted narrow row (0.38 m) maize forage production in the mid-1990s because of its 5% dry matter (DM) yield advantage (Cox & Cherney, 1998). These dairy producers, however, continued to plant forage maize at high plant densities (125,000 plants/ha) under high N fertility (225 kg N/ha), despite research that indicated that forage maize had optimum DM yields and forage quality when planted at the recommended 100,000 plants/ha under 175 kg/ha of N fertility (Cox & Cherney, 2001). We evaluated forage maize at 0.38 and 0.76 m (conventional) row spacing under recommended vs. high plant densities and N fertility on a large dairy farm in New York. The objective of the study was to demonstrate to dairy producers that narrow-row forage maize does not require high plant densities and N fertility for optimum DM yield and forage quality.