Excess Nitrates in Drought Stressed Corn

With mother nature's constantly changing weather patterns in different areas of the country there comes concern during dry years of the build up of nitrate levels in plants (particularly in corn silage) and the effects that it can have on livestock when used as feed. This paper was written to help the reader become more aware of the different guidelines and university recommendations as well as university interpretations as far as how to handle the nitrates levels in corn silage. At Spectrum Analytic, we are not livestock nutritionists nor are we feed specialists, however we do have the capability to test for nutrients levels in feeds, forages and other plants. And in this process we are sometimes asked to help with interpretations of the results, and that is the purpose of this paper, to give the reader some basic knowledge about nitrate levels in drought stressed corn and some precautions to follow.

Excess Nitrates in Drought Stressed Corn