Economic assessment of crop yield and quality in silage maize

The aim of the study was to examine the economic value of crop yield and quality (content of digestible organic matter, DOM) of silage maize. If maize silage is used for fattening bulls, the DOM content plays an important role whereas crop yield can be considered as minor priority in the variety choice. When feeding dairy cattle, however, both quantitative crop yield and quality of the silage maize are essential. On 1 ha of silage maize, the marginal utility (gross margin) per dt of additional crop yield (DM) varies between CHF 15.- and CHF 20.-, the marginal utility per g of additional DOM per kg DM between CHF 25.- and CHF 30.-.