The new maize hybrids for silage

Abstract

Maize is considered an unsurpassed silage crop, so breeding in this direction is of great relevance. The study was carried out at the FSBSI «Agricultural Research Center «Donskoy» in 2019–2021. The purpose was to study productivity and nutritional value of the new silage hybrid combinations, to identify dependencies to optimize the breeding process. In order to develop new hybrids, there was applied the method of interline hybridization using heterosis in the first generation. The objects of research were 24 hybrids of the early-maturing, middle-early and middle-maturing groups. In each group, there have been identified the new hybrid combinations that are found promising for cultivation for silage and green fodder. In the early-maturing group, a new hybrid ‘Krucha M × KV 215’ formed the largest productivity of green mass (28.2 t/ha) and dry matter (9.41 t/ha). The hybrid had 6.56 t of feed units per 1 ha, 0.48 t of digestible protein and 90.0 GJ/ha of exchange energy. In the middle-early group, a new hybrid ‘Krucha M x KV399 MV’ produced 29.4 t/ha of green mass, 10.35 t/ha of dry matter, 7.49 t of fodder units per 1 ha, 0.57 t of digestible protein, 96.14 GJ/ha of exchange energy. In the middle-maturing group, the best hybrid was a new hybrid ‘KV 399 × 9837V’, which had the highest rates among all the hybrids studied. The hybrid produced 7.88 t of fodder units per 1 ha, 0.64 t of digestible protein and 98.64 GJ/ha of exchange energy. There have been identified the signs that should be used in the development and selection of maize hybrids for silage, such as plant height, cob attachment height, number of leaves per plant, length of a vegetation period.