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Michigan | The salt solution is only applied to the female plants. It's turned off over the rows that have been destroyed (male rows).
The main reasons for defoliation...
Decrease seed size: Storage post harvest & in bags. There is a finite amount of space in the plants and with every increasing numbers of Hybrids, space is at a premium
As a harvest aid: Need to get the corn out of the field ASAP & into storage
Quality: as stated above - larger seeds are more subject to physical damage. It's defoliated between 60%-50% generally. The test weight isn't like that of corn that hasn't reached maturity. The defoliant allows the corn plant to still live, it just can't put the energy into the kernels because there isn't very much green tissue left.
There is supposedly an increase in the vigor of Hybrid that is produced.
Not all inbreds will be defoliated.
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Is small seed corn size more profitable for the seed companies?...from below
