The Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania (PDMP) is soliciting entries for the 2023 corn silage hybrid trial. The collaborative effort of PDMP and The Pennsylvania State University provides leadership and producer-driven corn silage testing through innovative research. Further collaboration with Cornell University and Western NY Crop Management bring uniformity to the testing program and reporting of data in the northeast region.
PDMP and Penn State will collectively distribute the results in early November, as well as posting the results online. Information can be accessed at: http://www.pdmp.org/corn-silage-research-project or https://extension.psu.edu. In addition, the results of the corn silage hybrid trial are presented as part of the PSU Dairy Nutrition Conference. This presentation encourages and allows for open dialogue between the PDMP Corn Silage Committee persons and industry representatives. We invite you to attend this conference, view the results, and join in on the discussion to further enhance this testing program.
The cost for each hybrid entered is $875. Conventional entries will be charged $300 for 1 location in each maturity zone. More information on this can be found within the protocols. The maturity groups are listed on the protocol sheet and entry form. The testing protocol and directions for application are included.
- We will be using wet chemistry to test for starch across all locations and entries in 2023.
- We have listened to your concerns about the price of our program and are doing our best to maintain data integrity, while also trying to keep the program affordable. Cumberland Valley Analytical Services has developed a model to better predict NDF degradability using NIR data (they call it FDMS – Feed Degradation Modeling System). We examined the regression data and feel the relationship between wet chemistry NDFD30 and FDMS NDFD30 is acceptable. This will allow us to use NIR NDFD data (via FDMS) for the OMD index and significantly reduce the cost of the analysis.
- With the release of the Organic Matter Digestibility Index, entries must use this advanced testing.
No provision is made for reimbursement of application fees due to dropped test sites or late arriving seed entries. The deadline for submission of forms and entry fees is March 3, 2023. Seed must be submitted no later than March 17, 2023.
A full list of protocols is available below:
The 2023 entry form can be found HERE. Please send completed entry forms to Hanna Wells at hwells517@gmail.com. Seed delivery address can be found within the full list of protocols.
Contact Hanna Wells, Project Liaison, at hwells517@gmail.com or 814-574-9863 if you have any questions.