UTILIZATION OF BT CORN FOR BEEF CATTLE Mark Antle Department Of Agronomy Penn Stale Now that the use of Bt com hybrids is increasing nation wide, many questions have been posed by beef producers regarding the performance of beef animals when fed diets consisting of Bt com. In response to some of these concerns, two trials were per formed by the University of Nebraska in cooperation with Novartis Seeds. The research ers, J. D. Folmer, G. R Erick son, C.T. Milton, T.J. Klopfs- New NB2-J6 is a 118-day, NK® Brand •Excellent control of Ist & 2nd Bt corn hybrid with YieldGard® protec- generation European Corn Borer, tion against European Corn Borer. Its «Exceptional top-end yield another innovative solution for your performance, farm from Novartis Seeds NB2-J6 was the highest yielding hybrid in the summarized Maryland Corn Trials Call your Hoffman Seeds Dealer today or call 1-800-776-7929 to learn more about the new NK® brand hybrids from Novartis Seeds. NK Brand®is a registered trademark of Novartis YieldGard® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Co. •Highest fiber digestibility Id OUF fllll season testing program B TUX NEWS RESEHCH mtm tein, and I.F. Beck, wanted to determine if any animal perfor mance differences existed between two com varieties, N 7333 and N 4242, and their Bt counterparts. They also wanted to determine whether a variety difference played a role in ani mal performance. Thc first trial utilized fields of N 7333 Bt and N 7333 non-Bt postharvest com residue to eva luate daily gain and grazing preference. Twenty-three acres of Bt and 21 acres of non-Bt com fields woe each divided into 3 pastures and stocked with 8 or 9 steers per pasture in order to provide equal stocking rates. Over a 70-day grazing per iod, daily gains of the steers were similar (.62 pound per NB2-J6 INNOVATION DRIVES PERFORMANCE Hoffman Seeds, Inc. 144 Main Street Landisville, PA 17538 (800) 776-7929 www.hoffmanseeds. com day) between the Bt and non-Bt pastures. Grazing preference was evaluated by allowing 16 steers equal access to 7 acres of Bt or non-Bt com residue. The steers showed no preference for either the Bt or non-Bt fields. It should be pointed out that there was very little com borer pressure in either the Bt or non- Bt fields. Ihe published results of the trial did not provide information on stalk quality, but it could be surmised that quality was similar for both types of com residue. In the second trial, 128 steers (average weight 620 pounds) were fed either Bt or non-Bt com silage from either N 7333 or N 4242 for 101 days. Dry matter intake averaged higher for steers fed Bt com silage for both varieties. Daily gain was significantly higher for cattle fed N 4242 Bt (3.3 pounds per day) compared to N 4242 non- Bt (3.0 pounds per day), but was similar for N 7333 Bt com pared to N 7333 non-Bt (2.9 pounds per day). Feed efficiency was signific antly higher for animals fed N 7333 non-Bt compared to N 7333 Bt, but similar for N 4242 Bt vs. N 4242 non-Bt. When comparing across the •Moderate protection against fall armyworm and corn earworm. •Tali, leafy plant with excellent staygreen. •Good drought tolerance shows in stable performance. •Strong choice for full-season grain and exceptional silage character istics for southeast and south central PA and south. Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 29, 2000—Page two varieties, overall the steers gained 11 percent faster and 8 percent more efficiently on N 4242 compared to N 7333. Based on the results of the trial performed at the Universi ty of Nebraska, it appears that the presence of the Bt trait in Record Ethanol Production Fred Stemme Director Of Communications Missouri Corn Growers Association According to the Energy Information Administration and the Renewable Fuels Asso ciation (RFA), the domestic fuel ethanol industry produced an all-time record of 106,000 barrels per day in October 1999. The previous record of 103,000 bushels per day was set the previous October. Accord ing to UFA, the production increase was a response to new market opportunities in refor mulated gasoline markets Set; Record Anticipated com hybrids does not have a consistent affect on perfor mance of growing steers. The study does support the popular notion that hybrid genotype plays an important role in ani mal performance. For Year across the country, particularly in California, the start-up of new ethanol production facili ties, and continued improve ments in technology and pro duction efficiencies. “We are on the way to setting a new record for annual fuel ethanol production in 1999,” said Eric Vaughn, RFA presi dent. Production totals for 1999 through October exceed 1.22 billion gallons, and if produc tion in November and Decem ber reflects previous years’ pro duction, the total for 1999 can be expected to exceed 1.5 bil lion gallons. The two new Missouri etha nol plants, under construction by Missouri farmer-owned cooperatives, will add to this total by each producing approx imately IS million gallons of ethanol annually. 203
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