What it is?
People appreciated the benefits of corn back in ancient times.
Moreover, some tribes considered it a sacred plant. Scientists claim that it was this culture that was first cultivated by humans. Feed and fodder varieties are mainly grown to feed farm animals and birds. Corn is unpretentious and not sensitive to climatic conditions. For normal development, it needs a temperature from +14 to +27 degrees.
The plant can tolerate:
- prolonged drought;
- heavy rainfall;
- gusty wind;
- temperature fluctuations.
The crop grows best in a humid temperate climate, so the first places in its cultivation are occupied by:
- USA.
- Canada.
- France.
Russia is ranked 9th in this ranking.
Feed corn is divided into three classes. Belonging to each of them is determined after harvesting the crop from the fields.
Fodder varieties are stored for a long time and are sold all year round. You can buy them both wholesale and by weight.
The best varieties of feed corn and their properties
There are quite a few varieties of feed corn, the most popular of which are:
- Pearl. This variety is practically not susceptible to disease and has quite tasty ears. It grows up to 2 m in height, the average weight of the cobs is approximately 250 g, length up to 20 cm, and fully ripens within 75 days from the moment of planting. Productivity is high - up to 12.5 tons of grains per hectare;
- Aurika. Like the previous one, this culture practically does not get sick and ripens in a short period of time - up to 80 days. The weight of the cob is up to 220 g, the average length is 20 cm. Provided the soil is fertile, about 20 tons can be harvested per hectare. The cobs have great flavor;
- Saratov sweet corn. This is a drought-resistant variety that grows up to 210 cm. The cobs weigh up to 190 g and are only 18 cm in length. The grains are yellow-orange, the taste is excellent;
- The Golden Fleece. Plants of this variety are relatively short, up to only 179 cm, the weight of the cob reaches up to 20 g, and the length is up to 22 cm. A characteristic feature of the variety is wide bright yellow grains. The variety is resistant to diseases and tolerates bad weather well, so it can be grown even in northern regions where the climate is not very suitable for corn;
- Kuban early ripening. The variety fully matures approximately 89 days after germination. It grows short - only up to 150 cm. The ears are thick, reaching about 30 cm in length. The variety is resistant to diseases and grows well even under unfavorable climatic conditions;
- Viola. This variety is the fastest ripening - it only takes 70 days after germination to ripen. The plant is not susceptible to virtually any diseases. The cobs are tasty, can weigh up to 330 g and reach 20 cm in length. The variety is considered high-yielding; up to 14 tons can be harvested from one hectare.
Feed corn Zhemchug
These varieties are hybrid and quite unpretentious in cultivation, which determines the widespread use of feed corn in agriculture.
Application area
Feed corn is used to feed chickens, pigs and other animals. In addition, it can be used to feed fish while fishing. Due to its high calorie content, grain quickly saturates and promotes weight gain.
Other feeds are also produced from forage crops:
- meal - a mixture of crushed leaves, stems and grains of a plant;
- silage is a succulent feed made by preserving the green part of a crop that has reached waxy maturity;
- green food - made from low-yielding varieties grown for their green mass.
Technical grades are also used in other areas:
- Nutrition. More than 116 million tons of feed corn are eaten by African residents. About 15% of cobs come from other developing countries.
- Medicine. The stigma of the plant is used to treat the liver.
- Making flour, food starch, flakes, hominy, etc.
- Production of industrial starch used for the production of paints, agrochemicals, detergents, viscose and other types of products.
- Ethanol. In America, approximately 40% of cobs are processed for this purpose.
- Biogas. European countries, concerned about improving the environmental situation, obtain biological gas from corn, replacing traditional fuel.
Fans of this cereal will be interested to learn about sweet varieties, including Summer Sweet F1, Gourmand Belogorya, Pioneer and Sweet Nugget F1, as well as unusual varieties - blue Hopi, brown strawberry and bright colored corn.
Usage
Corn is a unique plant in terms of its breadth of use. Flour, cereals, molasses, starch are made from its fruits, and used for the production of beer and alcohol. Do not forget that paper, viscose, insulating films, linoleum, even film are made from its stems, cobs, and covering leaves. Everyone knows that medicine uses corn silk to treat kidney stones, stimulate the liver, kidneys and gall bladder. In addition, corn is used to make feed for livestock.
Feed corn is perfectly stored in specially equipped premises, from where agricultural enterprises sell it for the production of oil or feed to everyone.
Food grades are not subject to long-term storage; they are grown specifically for culinary purposes and processed very quickly.
Those who grow edible corn on their plots or buy it at the market boil it for several days. It can only be preserved by freezing or canning.
If suddenly it occurs to someone to use sweet corn for feed, then this can also be done immediately after harvesting. But this is unlikely, because its production is more expensive than fodder. This is what we buy all year for salads and side dishes, take expensive tin cans home and enjoy its sweet, delicate taste.
What does this culture look like?
Feed corn is a powerful and tall plant. The root system of the crop is well developed, thanks to which it is characterized by increased vitality. The ears are elongated and smooth, with grains of bright yellow or orange color.
If the plant's side shoots are not removed, it will begin to grow green mass, and there will be too little nutrients left for the formation of cobs.
Below you will see what this culture looks like:
Is it possible for a person to eat?
Feed cobs are often on sale at a very attractive price, so many people have a question: are they edible? People can also eat forage varieties. They also contain many useful substances, like sugar grains.
The vegetable is rich in:
- fiber;
- vitamins;
- minerals;
- amino acids.
To make the cobs soft and easily digestible, they must be cooked for 1 to 3 hours.
Forage cobs that have reached milky ripeness are suitable for consumption. Their grains have not yet become too hard and can be cooked in 30-60 minutes.
It is advisable to choose varieties such as “Saratovskaya” and “Golden Fleece” for cooking. They contain quite a lot of sugar and after prolonged cooking they become pleasant to the taste.
Feed corn is a versatile product that has many applications. In terms of taste, fodder cobs are inferior to sugar cobs, but if desired, they can replenish the supply of nutrients in the body.
How does forage differ from food?
To understand what species the plant belongs to, what “feed corn” means, you need to study the cobs. Attention should be paid to the following features:
- Color. The cobs of the forage crop are orange or deep yellow in color. Light grains are a sign of a sugar variety.
- Density. The food grains are easy to crush with your fingers, leaving the juice on your hands. The feed grain is drier and harder, with a dense outer shell.
- Maturing period. Sugar varieties are harvested from the second half of August to mid-September, and fodder varieties ripen much earlier.
- Taste. If you put raw coarse grains into your mouth, you may feel that they are tough and tasteless. The food culture is much softer and has a sweetish taste.
- Form. Forage varieties have smoother and elongated ears, while food varieties are thick and short, with large grains.
- Heat treatment time. Mature feed corn will remain tough even after several hours of cooking, and food corn will be ready in 20-30 minutes.
Taste qualities
If it is not possible to distinguish edible corn on the market by appearance alone, then you can simply taste the grain. Food is much sweeter and tastier than its food sister, the consistency is softer and more watery (juicier). Nothing bad will happen if you eat raw grains; they do not contain harmful substances, they are just much rougher than boiled ones, and it will be more difficult for the stomach to process them.
The nutritional value of boiled food corn is 180 kcal per 100 g, it is very rich in protein. And 100 g of feed boiled corn contains 120 kcal.
In general, any corn is very healthy, it contains a huge amount of vitamins: vitamins A, PP, group B, E. So, it will not be harmful to eat the one that is used to feed livestock - the body will be enriched with microelements and dietary fiber. But the taste of food grades is very different due to the presence of monosaccharides and disaccharides, which are what make the grains so tasty and sweet.
Membranous
In African countries, a cereal grows whose cobs covered with scales are not eaten, although the grains are yellow in color and do not differ in appearance from the seeds of maize, brought from Latin America to Europe. Film corn has no hybrids, no one is breeding it. It has not become widespread, perhaps because each grain must be separated from the scales before boiling or baking.
Features of cultivation and storage
The technologies for cultivation, post-harvest processing and storage of feed and food corn are similar.
A special feature of this forage variety is that it requires less heat and sun. Therefore, forage varieties are successfully cultivated even in northern agricultural regions.
Tillage
Corn is undemanding to its predecessors and produces good yields with proper agricultural practices, even in monoculture.
The plant prefers loose soils, so autumn plowing is carried out to a depth of 20-25 cm. In the spring, plowed soil is harrowed and as the weeds grow, they are cultivated 1-2 times. The last pre-sowing cultivation to the depth of seed placement is done simultaneously with the application of herbicides.
Fertilizer
Before plowing, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied at the rate of 60-90 kg of phosphorus and 40-60 kg of potassium per hectare and rotted manure in the amount of 30-40 t/ha, as well as 30 kg/ha of nitrogen fertilizers in ammonia form.
Before the first cultivation, the soil is fed with ammonium nitrate at the rate of 20-30 kg/ha.
Sowing
Use sorted and treated seeds. Sowing of cereals begins when the seed layer of soil is warmed to +10-12 ºС. The optimal seeding depth is 6-8 cm; when planting in heavy clay soils, it is reduced to 4-5 cm. Dry weather requires increasing the sowing depth to 10-12 cm.
The row spacing should be 60-70 cm. Seed consumption varies depending on the variety, region and purpose and ranges from 10 to 25 kg per hectare.
Caring for crops involves loosening, weeding, and controlling diseases and pests.
During the season, 2-3 inter-row cultivations are carried out:
- the first - in the phase of 3-5 leaves;
- the second - after two weeks when weeds and soil crust appear;
- the latter at a plant height of 60-70 cm.
Diseases and pests are combated with protective drugs depending on the species.
Cleaning
Harvesting begins in the phase of biological maturity of the grain. The dry matter content reaches 60%, the grains acquire a bright color, the leaves and stems turn yellow. During this period, the weight of the cob is maximum.
On a note! The landmark for starting harvesting work is the appearance of a “black dot” at the base of the corn kernel.
To collect feed grain, combine harvesting with threshing of cobs using self-propelled units KSKU-6 is used.
Post-harvest grain processing
After harvesting, the corn is cleaned and sorted using air screen separators. Grain with a moisture content of less than 16% is sent for storage, while grain with a higher moisture content is sent for drying in shaft, column or bunker dryers. For feed purposes, drying is carried out at a temperature not exceeding 50 °C.
After drying, the grain must be cooled. Before filling into storage, the temperature of the corn should not exceed the ambient temperature by more than 10 °C.
