Rejected feed corn spread on fields

Natalie Rector, MSU Extension Manure Nutrient educator and Martin Chilvers, Plant Pathology - April 22, 2010

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

Last fall there were situations of new crop corn grain being rejected by livestock. In some serious cases where the quality was not good enough for feeding or marketing, the corn was land applied. The inoculums from the fungi causing mycotoxin issues can provide a source for re-infestation in 2010. The weather conditions will have the final say in how much of a risk this will be. Several precautions may include tillage of these fields (no-till will keep the inoculums on the surface) and rotation out of corn and cereals.

Last season a number of fungi were identified on diseased corn ears by the MSU Diagnostic Services including Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Fusarium graminearum which also causes head scab in wheat. Although Fusarium graminearum has also been reported to cause seed and seedling disease in soybean, rotating into soybean with a seed treatment will be a better option than corn or cereals. Be mindful of potential weed corn issues, particularly if herbicide resistant corn varieties were land applied.

For more information, visit the Purdue University and Ohio State University web sites, universities in states where the problem was a larger issue last fall.

http://www.ag.purdue.edu/extension/cornmold/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=5616

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