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Scout corn silage now for mycotoxins

An extension educator says while hot and dry conditions have kept insect and disease pressure low this season, farmers still need to monitor mycotoxin levels in corn silage.

“Once these toxins are produced, they are very stable and they’re very hard to get rid of even in the ensiling process.”

Michigan State University’s Manni Singh points to data out of Wisconsin finding stalks produced higher levels of mycotoxins compared to ears in some susceptible varieties.

“That could be important in a year like this one where we’re dealing with these dry conditions until last week.”

He said research last year found some level of toxins in all samples even though environmental conditions should have resulted in lower amounts.

“We tested them for 24 different toxins, and we found each sample had more than one mycotoxin, most of them had 10 to 15 mycotoxins.”

Michigan State University is again offering free mycotoxin analysis as part of continuing research on corn silage quality.  More details on how to participate can be found here.

Singh made his comments during MSU’s recent virtual breakfast.