In some Asian countries and in Egypt, farmers plant maize at very high densities and progressively thin the crop using the plants as fodder; in some cases only the lower leaves are plucked for this purpose, although both practices can lead to reduced yields.
▶ In Mexico and Central America, the stalks are cut above the ears, when they are well developed, to feed cattle. The green stalks that remain after harvesting baby corn are also used as fodder. There is no further information on the use of quality protein corn as a forage crop; perhaps it could have advantages for making silage for dairy cattle.
▶ Credits: dtnpf – [Image of Public Domain]
Silage of green corn cobs with quality protein (CCM) is spreading in northern European countries where corn hardly reaches maturity. It has been reported that o2-CCM is equal in yield but superior in nutritional quality to CCM corn normally used for swine feed.
Within the botanical description, the corn plant has a robust growth habit of easy development and annual production; the stalk is simple, erect, of great length and can reach 4 m in height, it is robust and unbranched, its appearance is reminiscent of a cane, it has no internodes and a spongy pith, if a cross section is made, with male and female inflorescence separated within the same plant; The male inflorescence presents a panicle (commonly called spikelet or tuft) of yellow coloration that has a very high amount of pollen in the order of 20 to 25 million grains, in each small flower that makes up the panicle there are 3 stamens where the pollen develops.
Likewise, the female inflorescence has a lower content of pollen grains, around 800 or 1000 grains and are formed in vegetative structures called spadixes that are arranged laterally; The leaves are long, large, lanceolate, alternate, paralelinervias, are embraced to the stem and the beam have hairs, the ends of the leaves are very sharp and cutting, the roots are fasciculate and its mission is to provide a perfect anchorage to the plant, in some cases protrude a few knots of the roots at ground level..
NOTE: Reference material.