 | Brice Elnicki is vice president of KAMO GRAIN INC at 3708 North Free King Hwy in Pittsburg, KS. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, specializing in grain merchandising, he also serves on the KGFA legislative committee. Kamo Grain started as a small, family owned, country elevator in 1990, has now grown to serve producers and elevators all over the four state area with their grain marketing needs. For more information or to reach Brice call 620-232-5800.
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Agriculture
2012-08-30 08:11:42
Beware of nitrate toxicity in drought-stressed corn. What are the dangers?
Q- What are the dangers of Nitrate Toxicity in Drought-Stressed Corn.
A- There are really no dangers to the grain itself, as far as I’m aware. The main danger is to the corn stalk, which in years like this with a severe drought, where there is a lot of corn chopped for silage due to lack of grain production, nitrate toxicity is a real concern. The nitrate level of silage is important because it can kill the cattle fairly easily. This happens due to a lack of water available to the plant, this lack hampers the efficiency of the plant to turn the nitrate into protein or amino acids. How this affects the cattle is the nitrate is absorbed into the blood system, then the nitrogen rich blood is unable to carry a required amount of oxygen, which basically asphyxiates the animal.
The best way to avoid this is prior to harvest have the plant tested to determine the nitrogen level, and a secondary precaution is to not harvest the bottom twelve inches of the plant. Once the silage is in a pile, bunker or silo, after a period of time a process called the ensile occurs and microbes will metabolize and break down a large portion of the nitrate, as much as 50%, and maybe more depending on how long the silage is left to cure, the longer the better, to an extent.
Since the majority of silage harvesting will be complete by the end of August, this information may be to little to late, for producers that already have a silage pile. But this isn’t to say their silage is worthless or guaranteed to kill any cattle, if the level of nitrate is too high, producers can typically blend in grass hay with the silage at feeding time, to lower the amounts of nitrate available to the animal. Most local producers can blend prairie hay, brome, or fescue to decrease the likelihood of nitrate toxicity from silage. I’m by no means an expert in silage, and would encourage anyone that has questions or concerns to contact Kansas State University and/or their local extension agent.
