Page 44—Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13, 1993 Research Advantages VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Farming Staff REISTVILLE (Lebanon Co.) Waxy com is apparently getting a new look by some people after being put on the back shelf for a number of years with regards to use as livestock feed. A few different universities are in the process of investigating the 100 percent amylopectin strain of maize as to its feed and nutritional appropriateness for livestock. However, except for one report on a study done in the Midwest on hogs, no data, save farmer testimo nials, is readily available on the benefit of feeding 100 percent amylopectin, versus the current use of feeding normal dent com, which is 75 percent amylopectin and 25 percent amylose. Research on plant pectins is ongoing at Cornell by graduate student Mary Beth Rymph, who is doing the work as part of her pur suit of a doctorate degree. However, Rymph said that the name “amy lopectin” is a misnomer. She said it is not a true pectin, but really a starch. She also said that there is great lack in information about amylopectin as it is digested by cattle. Pectins have some hope, however. She said that it has been found that the digestion of pec tins is apparently fast and produces no lactic acid, which could eventually earn it a place in a research-supported recommended diet for high producing dairy cattle. “Amylopectin is a bad name,” she said. “It really is another starch.” Amylose is a sugar, or starch, which occurs in a straight molecular chain. Amylopectin is a multi-branched chain starch. Rymph said she started out researching starches, then switched to pectins, which most people arc familiar with in making jam and jelly, but also used in some glues, etc. She is currently looking at pectins pro duced by alfalfa. While she said she couldn’t guess how long it might be until adequate information on pec uns is available, the same is true of most non structural elements of dairy feed. “We need a lot more information, plus an assay on it and other feeds,” she said, adding that there is currently a lack of an inexpensive, quick, and reliable method for testing of pec tins and starches in the rumen. Thai’s being worked on too. ran™- -i ! EjENGEREga j Rheems, PA 17570 • 1 "bu yTng"&'sYlung ; I Shelled Corn I; J #3 Barley j I 48% Soybean Meal I I Feed Ingredients I ■■■Call 1-800-692-6008*** R.KJAIOGT - -i rain Colebrook PA BUYING BAR CORN, SHELLED CORN & WHEAT (717) 653-2510 1 (800) 654-2510 Spot or contract prices available EAR CORN FOR SALE DELIVERED TO THE FARM Continues On Of Waxy Corn But that doesn’t mean that nothing has changed from 1990 when the status of waxy com was reported as being improved in yields to almost equal to yellow dent. At that time, though crop yields were up to where they are now about equal to regular dent there were no studies to validate any farmer and seed company claims that waxy corn had an advantage over yellow dent. A lack of scientific data to sup port those claims doesn’t mean that those providing testimonial evidence are not truthful. What it means is, the lack of objective control over all influ ences on any herd makes any claim about a product, either in support or against, invalid. In other words, when a decision to change a ration is based on testi monial evidence alone, there arc no guarantees and the risk of damaging existing milk produc tion is higher than with researched and substantiated claims. However, a number of salesmen Alnavs rrud 6 Wlim (Ik label for any Mumarw herhadi Bulk Mum Tech &■ Partner arr Lsr Prsncuirs BuJlef Micro Tech & Partner are registered trademark oj Monsanto Company ©Monsanto Company 1993 and farmers for an Elizabethtown seed and soil-amendments pro ducts company are promoting some varieties of waxy com and, on the basis of testimonials, arc claiming higher yields, better acceptance by cattle and swine, and better feed conversion. Results of one recently com pleted feed trial study at the Unvicrsity of Wisconsin, shows a maximum 10 percent advantage to using waxy com over yellow dent for feed efficiency and a high of 8.9 percent advantage in daily weight gain. Devon Howe, salesman for PARS Inc., Elizabethtown, in a let ter said that the data which univer sities, such as Penn State, arc pul ling out is based on trials with old varieties of waxy corn, not with the varieties developed by Custom Farm Seed, based in Illinois. Thai’s the brand he and his area farmer-dealers promote. Howe said lhatCFS has spent 20 years developing hybrids for the industrial starch business (it used Earlier Bullet® Micro-Teclfand Partner® are your best choices for time-saving early pre-plant applications because they time-release their active ingredient to extend control • Apply Bullet, Micro-Tech or Partner up to 30 days prior to planting, you’ll spread out your workload Stronger Bullet, Micro-Tech and Partner are strong performers in high residue because encapsulation pro tects them three ways • First, they lose less power to volatilization on the residue. • Second, more herbicide penetrates the residue • Third, more herbicide stays locked into the weed zone ~ even after heavy rams Longer Timed-release action means Bullet, Micro-Tech and Partner outlast ordinary herbicides control • They’re easy on the crop early when it’s most vulnerable and tough on weeds all season Get Earlier, Stronger, Longer Performance With Bullet, Micro-Tech and Partner. Choose Bullet, the only encapsulated pre-mix, to stop over 32 weeds and grasses on your toughest high residue and no-till com acres • For grass and small seeded broadleaf control in clean-till to no-till com or soybeans, Micro-Tech is the choice • And to combine the grass control performance of encapsulation with the convenience of an easy-mixing dry formulation, go with Partner, • See us soon or call 1-800-332-3111 for a free brochure MjS| Timed-Release For Season-Long Control u CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DEALER FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ADVANTAGES OF ENCAPSULATED BULLET HERBICIDES (O®lM f wwm PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC. in various powders, etc.). He has pointed out a Wisconsin hog study as evidence of the advantage of CFS waxy corn. No other research is available to support Howe’s claims of an advantage. Gary Apcl, CFS director of agronomy services, also cited the University of Wisconsin hog study, which showed a slight advantage over a variety of dent. As far as its use in dairy animals, Apcl could not point to substantive research, but said he had a number of dairymen who were willing to provide strong testimonials as to us benefit on their herd’s production. Their is currently some trial work being done at Wisconsin with dairy cattle, but both profes sors actively involved were unavailable for comment, one was out of state and not due back for some time and the other was out of the country and also not due back soon. Paul Carter, agronomy profes sor at University of Wisconsin’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and with its extension program, recently wrote on waxy corn. Carter said in the article that, other than the percentage of amy lopectin, the chemical constituents of waxy com are similar to those in yellow dent. In other words, the varieties are currently not 100 far apart in makeup and characteristics. “Because com hybrids have often been on the market for sever al years before seed companies change the genetic make-up of normal hybrids to include the waxy gene, many waxy hybrids are older than the newest normal hybrids and consequently may have lower yield potential,” Carter wrote. “Growers must isolate fields to prevent pollen contamination from normal com. “Some feeding trials suggest that finishing lambs, pigs and beef have slightly greater feed efficien cies and average daily weight (Turn to Page 47) for longer long «*sr< 123 93 M
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