Environmental conditions and crop density as the limiting factors of forage maize production

In rain-fed cropping, defining the best combination of practices could achieve high forage yield and silage quality. The aim of this study was to compare energetic quality of produced silage with productive characteristics of forage maize cultivated on alluvium and hydromorphous black soil in rain-fed conditions at four plant densities (68-74,000 plants ha-1) during the period 2005- 2010. Yield and energy parameters were increased to some extent at higher crop densities indicating that higher densities (74,000 plants ha-1) were potentially better for high forage and DM yields, while lower densities (70,000 plants ha-1) were better for the increase of energy parameters of produced silage. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-31037