A new early maturing maize variety is showing promise for growers looking to offset the challenges of inclement weather.

Mojito (MAS Seeds) is available in the UK from Elsoms Seeds and according to Toby Reich, it displays all of the ‘right’ agronomic attributes plus end-market flexibility.

“With maize seed treatment viability secured for 2024, the UK-grown maize industry can at least start to look forward more positively. However, following two years of difficult late season harvesting conditions, there are genuine concerns among many growers regarding later maturing varieties.

“When you look at the current dynamics of farm purchases for maize seed, around 70% of farmers are opting for earlier maturing varieties as a conscious move towards earlier lifting and smoother establishment of the following crop,” he says.

Anaerobic digestion

In addition to this, Toby believes because of the increase in large-scale AD plants being built, he predicts a rise in the maize growing area for biogas production, meaning a stronger case for dual purpose varieties.

“These supply both silage and biogas markets with more emphasis on selecting early maturing varieties that produce both high dry-matter (DM) and energy yields,” he adds.

Craig Green of CMG Agronomy began working with Elsoms in 2018 while trialling dual-purpose variety, Neutrino. He predicts some maize growers may trade-off a small percentage of yield in order to lift crops 2-3 weeks earlier if future adverse harvest conditions continue to persist.

“Most of my farmer customers now see maize as the key break crop for wheat rather than sugar beet or spring barley, because it achieves higher gross margins. Although it’s been a generally good year for maize yields, it also turned out to be another late harvest for many growers, with June becoming a low energy month due to a lack of sunlight in many parts of the UK.

“This resulted in the FAO maturity date of many maize crops stalling, making every maize variety mature later which then led to later lifting dates that delayed the establishment of following wheat crops,” he explains.

With later harvest dates now becoming the new normal, Craig says he can see a move towards earlier varieties with FAO maturity dates of 190-200, which is a positive for new varieties such as Mojito.

Trial results

“Although early maturing, it’s delivered the same yield as varieties with an FAO of 210-220 in trials I’ve conducted over the last two years; its performance consistency on all soil types should help it gain traction,” he says.

“Across eight on-farm trials, Mojito has achieved average fresh weight yields of 40.5t/ha – equivalent to the yield I’d normally expect to see from a variety 2 FAO groups higher. It’s an old-fashioned, wide leaf plant that attracts a lot of sunlight with its wider canopy and is best suited to 75cm row widths. Starch content looks good, my customers confirm that it goes into beef cattle quite nicely, and it’s certainly dual-purpose for those considering it for bio-gas production.”

In 2023 trials, Craig assessed 35 maize varieties with Mojito delivering the second highest fresh-weight yield in its maturity class. “It looks good value for money with good standing ability, plus low cob, it’s less likely to suffer from brackling.