Corn silage harvest success rests on proper harvest, packing and storage practices. When we need a boost, adding an inoculant at harvest time can help improve fermentation and storage, but we need to know what products to use to get the best result.
Silage inoculants are simply bacterial cultures that help manage pH in the pile by converting sugars to acids which reduce molds, fungi and unwanted bacteria such as clostridia.
When selecting an inoculant, the first step is deciding if up-front fermentation or pile stability are needed, or maybe both. Up-front fermentation helps if most of our issues center around harvest and packing. If problems are more centered on storage and feed out, stability is where we should spend our money. Sometimes, a mix of both is needed.
Inoculants primarily reduce storage losses. Silages that contain homolactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus plantarum help fermentation start and end quicker by dropping the pH fast. This allows more silage to remain for feeding. Other inoculants, like heterolactic acid bacteria Lactobacillius buchneri, can improve aerobic stability by reducing spoilage losses when silage is re-exposed to air.
These bacteria are especially useful at reducing spoilage on the face of bunker silos if the face is too wide to keep fresh or if producers take out several days’ worth of feed from the pile at one time.
The purpose of inoculants is not to fix a train wreck or improve a perfect silage year, but they can help when things aren’t ideal. Inoculants can be used as an insurance policy to reduce the risk of spoilage and maintain quality. — Ben Beckman, Nebraska Extension
