EFFECT OF PLANT DENSITY AND CUTTING HEIGHT ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF CORN FORAGE

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of plant density and cutting height on the yield and nutritive value of corn forage. The experiment was established at the “Pabellón” Research Station, in Aguascalientes, México. The commercial corn hybrid Halcón was studied at three plant densities: 60 000, 80 000 and 100 000 plants/ha, and three cutting heights: 15, 30 and 45 cm. A randomized complete block design with three replicates and split plot arrangement was used. Main plot was plant density and subplot cutting height. No effects (P>0.05) were detected for plant density and the plant density x cutting height interaction for the variables evaluated, except in dry matter percent. Increasing cutting height decreased dry matter yield (P ≤ 0.05) from 21.5 to 18.6 t ha^-1, increased the ear proportion from 39.6 to 43.1 %, decreased neutral detergent fiber from 45.8 to 43.4 % and acid detergent fiber from 25.5 to 23.3 %, while dry matter digestibility increased from 74.9 to 80.1 %. The estimated milk production increased from 837 to 1009 kg per ton of dry matter. Cutting height did not affect milk production per hectare (P ≤ 0.05) and had a mean of 18.56 t ha. The results indicate that increasing cutting height improves corn forage quality, without effect of plant density in the range of 60 to 100 thousand plants ha.