5 ways to minimize DON's impact on corn in the field, the bin, and pocketbooks

by

Corn harvest is finally underway in Ontario, and plenty of optimism abounds when it comes to the yield potential of this crop. There is a concern, however, that the challenges of a wet summer are showing up in deoxynivalenol (DON) levels in the grain.

A mycotoxin produced by the gibberella fungus, DON levels over 2 ppm can limit marketing opportunities for corn as it impacts feed uses.

Paul Hoekstra, vice president of strategic development for Grain Farmers of Ontario, says the 2023 DON survey does show elevated levels of DON in certain areas of the province.

The survey, done in conjunction with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs and the Ontario Agri-Business Association, shows 77 per cent of samples tested were under 2 ppm. That’s good news, overall; however five per cent of samples were over the 5 ppm mark, creating challenges in some areas, Hoekstra says.

DON levels increase the longer corn is left standing, so it’s important to have a plan for what to do with those fields that are at highest risk, he says. Since 2018, the worst year for DON levels in recent memory, Hoekstra says GFO and industry stakeholders have been working on development of best management practices to minimize the impact of DON during the fall harvest season.

Hoekstra says farmers should keep these five tips in mind:

  • Scout and prioritize fields with higher DON levels or higher risk of rising DON levels
  • Keep clean corn separate
  • Sample the grain properly
  • Call your buyer to discuss options, and test grain, too
  • Set the combine to get rid of fines and cob tops (for a video on why and how, tap here)

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Subscribe to our daily newsletters to keep you up-to-date with our latest coverage every morning.

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Please register to read and comment.

Privacy Preference Center

Necessary

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

gdpr, __cfduid, PHPSESSID, wordpress_test_cookie, woocommerce_items_in_cart, woocommerce_cart_hash, wp_woocommerce_session, wordpress_logged_in, wordpress_sec, wp-settings, wp-settings-time, __cf_mob_redir, wordpress_cache, realag
__cfduid

Marketing

Measuring interactions with the ads on the domain.

__gads,fsk_ut_2317
IDE

Statistics

These are used to track user interaction and detect potential problems. These help us improve our services by providing analytical data on how users use this site.

_ga,_gid,_gat,_cb,_chartbeat2,_chartbeat4
_ga,_gid
metrics_token

Preferences

Preference cookies enable the website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.

chartdefaults, comment_author, comment_author_email, comment_author_url
JSESSIONID, _os_session,anonymous_votes,csrf-param,csrf-token,user,user-id,user-platform,intercom-session,intercom-lou,intercom-session
personalization_id, tfw_exp

 

Register for a RealAgriculture account to manage your Shortcut menu instead of the default.

Register