To Subscribe to the Organic and Non-GMO Report call 1-800-854-0586 or visit them online at www.nongmoreport.com.

lllinois-based Masters Choice has developed these “floury corn” varieties, which have a softer endosperm that increases starch availability.

According to Mark Kirk, Masters Choice’s director of research, most corn today is bred to have a hard endosperm. “It doesn’t feed well and the animals don’t digest it,” he says. “Grinding the kernels of hard endosperm corn produces hard particles.”

By contrast, floury corn has a soft endosperm, and when its kernels are ground, the texture is soft like flour. Hence the name, “floury corn.”

Kirk says floury corn stays in the rumen-the biggest part of a dairy cow’s stomach-longer allowing it more time to digest, unlike hard endosperm corn, which passes right through the rumen.

Starch in corn kernels provides energy, but the starch in the hard endosperm corn varieties is bound in a protein mix that is difficult for the digestive process to break down. Because floury corn is more easily broken down and digested, there is more starch readily available for energy.

The result in dairy cows is increase in milk production, better feed efficiency, and fewer cow health issues, Kirk says.

Research at the Southern Illinois University confirmed the increased feed efficiency of floury corn. Eighty-four heifer cows were fed a combination of forage and corn

with one group receiving floury corn and the other a hard endosperm corn. The floury corn-fed heifers were able to out gain the other heifers, gaining 15% more weight per day. They also reached optimum size 14 days before the hard corn-fed group.

Jake Mast, a dairy farmer from Shawano, Wisconsin told American Dairyman he has seen greater feed efficiency with floury corn. “The Masters Choice hybrids allow me to consistently feed less corn than my nutritionist recommends, generally about two pounds a day.”

Floury corn is fed mostly to dairy and beef cows, but Kirk says it is being tested on hogs and chickens.

Masters Choice sells its floury corn varieties through- out the Midwest and the East Coast. Harvest maturity dates range from 82 days for colder climates to 120 for warmer.

Floury corn is also non-GMO. About 70% of Masters Choice’s corn varieties are non-GMO; they also offer organic and some genetically modified varieties. Kirk says company owners Lynn and Paula Crabtree want to focus on non-GMO. “They feel it is their God-given calling to be a benefit to farmers and non-GMO floury grain is a benefit to farmers,” he says.