If it is very hot during maize flowering and there is a lack of water, fertilization often hardly takes place. The stigma threads dry up and the male flower can become sterile after a short time. As a result, the cobs are only poorly grained or missing completely. The sugar formed in the plant cannot be stored as starch in the cobs, remains in the plant tissue and accumulates there. Sometimes clearly recognizable by reddish discoloration.
To ensure the best possible feed value from such crops, these crops should be harvested quickly. Furthermore, care should be taken that a dry matter content of 28 % is not reached for the best possible feed value. With increasing aging, the plants straw very quickly and the feed value decreases rapidly.
These plants contain sufficient sugar for low-loss silage. The risk of the silages heating up can be compared with that of normal maize silage. If the plants are already heavily strawed, they can only be compacted with difficulty. This must be taken into account when storing the plants in the silo. If necessary, ensilage in thin layers together with more moist maize stocks. The use of the biological silage additives BioCool or PlantaSil is recommended to ensure and improve the aerobic stability of these maize silages.
Read also ensiling of drought-damaged maize