Your Questions Answered
Your Questions Answered
Below are some of the questions we’re frequently asked about ECOSYL Inoculants. If you have a question that we haven’t covered, please contact us and we’ll be happy to answer it for you and post it here to help others.
Q. Why should I use a silage inoculant?
A. Even the best forages don't have sufficient numbers of the right type of lactic acid-producing bacteria to produce a rapid fermentation. By adding large numbers of specially selected lactic acid bacteria such as the unique ECOSYL Lactobacillus plantarum strain MTD⁄1, you get a faster pH drop, less protein breakdown and higher levels of lactic acid in the silage and lower losses.
Q. What is an inoculant intended to do?
A. An effective inoculant dominates the fermentation so you get a faster efficient fermentation. Losses are reduced and the silage is ready sooner.
Q. Why is rapid fermentation and the elimination of oxygen so important?
A. Oxygen is trapped in the silo immediately after filling and for some time after ensiling, the length of time depending on how well compacted the forage is and how soon the silo is sealed. Plant enzymes are active until the oxygen is used up. During this phase, excess oxygen can lead to increased protein breakdown, more heating and the growth of yeasts and molds which can make the silage unstable at feedout.
Q. How important is the rate of pH drop?
A. The faster the pH value falls the sooner the wasteful activities of the plant enzymes and undesirable microorganisms will stop. This will reduce losses and result in more palatable silage. It will also conserve more sugars for conversion to lactic acid by the lactic acid so that less sugar will be required to achieve a successful fermentation.
Q. What is Lactobacillus plantarum?
A. L. plantarum is recognized as the best type of lactic acid bacteria for use in silage as it produces large amounts of lactic acid very quickly and efficiently. Since lactic acid is the strongest acid produced in the silo, this leads to a faster pH fall. ECOSYL speeds up the production of lactic acid by adding 100,000 L. plantarum strain MTD⁄1 bacteria per gram of silage.
Q. Why is the strain MTD/1 so important?
A. MTD⁄1 is an unusually hardy and robust strain of L. plantarum that differs from the most other strains of L. plantarum found in other silage inoculants in several ways. It works over a wider pH range (7.5 to 3.5) and temperature range (46˚F to 113˚F). This gives it a number of advantages.
Q. Does ECOSYL contain other strains of bacteria or enzymes?
A. No. ECOSYL contains MTD/1, a single, select strain of L. plantarum.
Q. Some other products contain more than one bacteria, or have added enzymes. Aren't those better?
A. No. The other bacteria are usually added to help strains of L. plantarum that cannot work over the whole pH range. Most L. plantarum strains do not start working until the silage pH gets down to pH 5.0 or below so they need these helper bacteria for the early stages of fermentation. As for enzymes, they have to be added in large amounts to show any benefit and this is very expensive. Available products tend to contain low levels of enzymes and we are unaware of any published scientific evidence demonstrating that the enzymes in combined inoculant/enzyme products have a benefit over and above the inoculant component alone.
Q. Which forage crops can be ensiled with ECOSYL?
A. ECOSYL can be used for ensiling corn, alfalfa, grasses, high moisture corn and small grain forages.
Q. Most companies have different products for different crops. How can ECOSYL be effective on all forages?
A. The bacterial strain in ECOSYL (MTD⁄1) was not only selected for its hardiness, but also its ability to utilize plant sugars across a variety of crops and geographical areas. ECOSYL has been tested extensively on: corn silage, alfalfa haylage, wheatlage, sorghum silage, barley silage, grass silage as well as HMCG, in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Q. Aren’t urea and anhydrous ammonia just as effective as bacterial inoculants?
A. No. The addition of anhydrous ammonia at ensiling immediately raises the pH of the crop. When urea is added, enzymes in the forage will break it down into ammonia and carbon dioxide gas, causing a similar rise in pH. They also destroy some of the plant’s natural lactic acid-producing bacteria, which lengthens the time before pH starts to drop in the ensiling process.