Corn School: Managing vomitoxin in the field and the silo

Agronomist Peter Johnson has been visiting cornfields and elevators to get a handle on the extent of vomitoxin levels in the Ontario corn crop.

In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, Johnson discusses Ontario’s recent Grain Corn Ear Mould and Vomitoxin (DON) Survey, and notes that some samples coming off the combine have tested as high as 37 parts per million (ppm) for mycotoxins caused by giberella and other diseases.

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What are growers to do? Agricorp is currently examining options for high vomitoxin corn in Ontario. In the meantime, Johnson offers a series of management tips including:

• Growers need to test their corn. There are elevators that are considering refusing corn with high toxin levels. Discount schedules begin at 5 ppm.
• Get the crop out of the field and clean it. Remove screenings and fines from the sample.
• Don’t leave harvested corn in a wet silo. The gibberella disease organism grows anytime grain moisture is above 19% or when the temperature is above 9 degrees C.

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