Enhanced fermentation

There are now well over 200 fermentation trials on Ecosyl, covering a wide range of crop types, dry matters (DMs) and ensiling conditions. Whichever way you look at the results, Ecosyl has been shown to significantly improve fermentation.

Three parameters that are often used to judge fermentation are: silage pH, ammonia content and the ratio of lactic acid to volatile fatty acids (LA/VFA).

Table 1. Some examples of the effect of Ecosyl on fermentation under different conditions

Conditions	No.of trials	Parameter	Untreated	Ecosyl*
DM less than 20%	45	pH	4.3	4.1
		Ammonia-N (%TN)	10.7	8.0
		LA/VFA	2.5	5.7
DM more than 30%	20	pH	4.3	4.1
		Ammonia-N (%TN)	8.0	5.0
		LA/VFA	3.0	7.0
WSC less than 2.5%	31	pH	4.4	4.2
		Ammonia-N (%TN)	12.6	10.1
		LA/VFA	2.8	3.9
Difficult conditions^$	39	pH	4.6	4.2
		Ammonia-N (%TN)	16.4	10.8
		LA/VFA	1.7	4.5

^$untreated silage had a poor fermentation as indicated by an ammonia-N above 10% TN

*all differences were statistically significant

It is often said that you need a sugar (WSC) content of more than 3% for inoculants to be successful. The results show that when the WSC is above 3% there is little difference in the final pH between the untreated and inoculated silages.

However, when sugars are limiting, the more efficient fermentation achieved with Ecosyl enabled a lower pH to be achieved. Ecosyl also achieved a lower final pH than acid above a WSC of about 2.2%, and only slightly less so at lower sugar levels.