Two top performers for quality maize in 2023

By Dr Simon Pope
31 Jan 2023
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Gema and Prospect are two of the best-performing maize varieties on the BSPB/NIAB Descriptive List and are excellent choices for farmers wanting to maximise milk production from maize and achieve a good return on their crop’s investment.

The best prospect

Prospect continues to set the standard in all the attributes defining a successful crop: it combines excellent agronomy with outstanding productivity and is perfect for Favourable and Less Favourable sites.

Prospect is an early maturing variety with an FAO rating of 170 and maturity class of 9. It combines excellent early vigour with good standing power and has good eyespot tolerance and fusarium resistance.

It is in the clamp where Prospect really stands out: with a dry matter yield of 102% (18t/ha), a high starch content, and outstanding Cell Wall Digestibility – a trait which has been amplified by Limagrain’s focussed seed breeding programme – Prospect delivers one of the very highest ME yields. This makes it the ideal choice for farmers where the ability to drive milk yields is paramount.

A real gem

Gema is perfectly suited to the more marginal maize growing areas as it requires fewer heat units than many other ‘early’ varieties, yet still provides assured maturity to deliver an exceptional yield and high starch content.

Gema is classified as ‘very early’ maturing (FAO 155, Maturity 12) which means it’s always one of the first varieties to be harvested in favourable conditions. Gema also boasts good early vigour which enables it to grow away quickly at the start of the season. This, combined with its early maturity, makes it the perfect short season option and one which gives growers valuable extra time to establish a following crop.

Gema is capable of producing a starch rich feed which can support good levels of production through a combination of quality and quantity. It is also a strong standing variety with low lodging, good eyespot tolerance and remains green to the point of harvest with well-filled, fully covered cobs.

Dr Simon Pope View all posts by Dr Simon Pope

Crop Protection Manager

After graduating from UCW Aberystwyth with BSc Hons in Agricultural Botany, Simon went on to achieve a PhD from Imperial College London, researching the Sclerotinia Diseases of Arable Crops.

His career began in 1984 on a field trials station in Wiltshire, before moving to the Pathology department of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge.

In 1990 Simon took on a more commercial role as a crop protection specialist covering Cheshire and North Shropshire.

Since joining Wynnstay in 2000, he has been responsible for the company’s crop protection activities and also fulfils the roles of Maize Product Manager and Silage Additive Product Manager.

Posted in Crop Farming & Harvest, Agronomy and Maize