Baseline information on agricultural practices in the EU ... - Europabio

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New applications are tested against existing ‘standard’ varieties. A quick replacement of standard varieties allows farmers to always use the most advanced material, but leaves little room for new registrations. Slower renewal of the standards will permit varieties that are not always an improvement compared to the currently used varieties. Usually 2 to 3 years of testing are needed on several locations representing the main maize growing areas. Varieties are evaluated according to earliness groups. In testing forage maize performance characters are measured such as germination, early vigour, the silking date, i.e. average date of female flowering, plant height, the starch content, the metabolisable energy or cell wall digestibility and the dry matter content. The latter should be at least 25% to prevent effluent losses in the silo, the optimum is between 30 and 35%. Yield is expressed as total dry matter per hectare. Also observations for lodging and stalk rot are done. For grain maize obviously the total grain yield is important, earliness, and again the yield securing characteristics, i.e. the sensitivity to lodging and stalk rot. The range of dry matter content at harvest should be between 60 and 73% dry matter in the grains. Thousand kernel weight is measured and disease and pest resistance is also observed (e.g. Bundessortenamt), especially in regions with a high disease and pest pressure. Next to testing for silage or grain maize it is also possible to test for organic maize or energy maize in e.g. Belgium (Van Waes, 2009 14 ). The German Bundessortenamt does not mention energy types separately but includes them in the middle-late to late maturing types. In the Netherlands Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving (PPO) publishes variety lists for energy maize emphasizing the importance of methane yield per hectare. The first Dutch hybrid registered was Goudster, a flint x dent hybrid, in 1952, although it should be considered as a top-cross variety rather than a hybrid (Barrière et al., 2006). The registration of LG11 in 1970, in France was one of the first three-way cross hybrids. It was highly recommended for ensiling as it could be planted at high densities. The first German hybrid maize varieties were registered and released in 1960. Hybrid breeding programs were started in Central Europe in the 1950s. The first hybrids were made between European flint types and US dent lines. These two distinct pools continue to make up most of the genetic basis for maize hybrids in Europe. The flintdent hybrids are grown throughout North and Central Europe; in contrast to Southern Europe and the US, where dent-dent hybrids are prevalent. Maize varieties are divided in maturity classes, depending on the number of days required for achieving a harvestable crop. This has usually been defined by a so-called FAO-number, a lower number meaning earlier ripening. In areas with only a short warm season (e.g. Central Europe), only varieties with an FAO-number of up to 400 are used, as others would need a longer growth period to reach maturity than is possible before temperatures fall again in the autumn. 14 Van Waes J. (2009) Maize variety testing for registration on a national catalogue and the impact of new technologies. Maydica 54: 139-153. Page 20 of 64
Table 7 provides an overview of maturity classes used in the different Member States for different applications. For biogas production late ripening varieties (FAO ca. 600) are the varieties of choice. They make better use of their potential to produce biomass than medium or early ripening varieties (Amon et al., 2007 15 ). 15 Amon T., Amon B., Kryvoruchko V., Zollitsch W., Mayer K., Gruber L. (2007) Biogas production from maize and dairy cattle manure—Influence of biomass composition on the methane yield. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 118: 173–182. Page 21 of 64
Page 1 and 2: Baseline i
Page 3 and 4: 1 Introduction Under the current Eu
Page 5 and 6: 3 Maize cultivation in Europe 3.1 C
Page 7 and 8: Figure 3: Grain maize production by
Page 9 and 10: Zone Member State Maize type 2010 2
Page 11 and 12: Zone Member State Number of holding
Page 13 and 14: Zone Member State Main weed species
Page 15 and 16: Zone Member State Main pest species
Page 17 and 18: Figure 4: Distribution of Diabrotic
Page 19: 4 Preparation 4.1 Seeds Breeding go
Page 23 and 24: Insecticides are included in seed t
Page 25 and 26: Table 10. Page 25 of 64
Page 27 and 28: Zone Member State Use Tillage B Cen
Page 29 and 30: • In Germany the Fertilisation Or
Page 31 and 32: Zone Member State Use Sowing dates
Page 33 and 34: Table 14: Chemical weed control (pr
Page 35 and 36: Zone Member State -: no data availa
Page 37 and 38: Zone Member State Use Insecticides
Page 39 and 40: Zone Member State Main pest species
Page 41 and 42: Integrated pest management (IPM) pr
Page 43 and 44: Figure 5: European Irrigation Map (
Page 45 and 46: Table 20: Irrigation of maize in Bu
Page 47 and 48: Zone Member State Region grain maiz
Page 49 and 50: Table 21: Irrigation methods and so
Page 51 and 52: Irrigation methods Zone Member Stat
Page 53 and 54: Irrigation methods Zone Member Stat
Page 55 and 56: The main overall objective of EU wa
Page 57 and 58: Zone Member State Use Harvest date
Page 59 and 60: 7 Consulted sources The following t
Page 61 and 62: Křístková M., 2010, Experience w
Page 63 and 64: Bayerischer Bauernverband; http://w
Page 65 and 66: Wageningen UR Livestock Research ht

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