Are inoculants really needed on corn silage?
Inoculants have been successful less frequently in corn silage than in hay-crop silages. Research studies show that inoculant treatments lead to fermentation improvements approximately two-thirds of the time in hay-crop silages as contrasted with only 40% of the time in corn silages. There are two primary reasons for the reduced response in corn silage. First, the natural population of lactic acid bacteria on corn at ensiling is on average 10 times higher than the natural population on alfalfa. This makes it more difficult for the inoculant to overwhelm the natural bacteria in corn silage and produce an effect. Second, natural fermentations in corn silage typically are high in lactic acid, low in acetic acid, and result in a low pH (3.8-3.9). With such a good natural fermentation, it is difficult for an inoculant to make substantial improvements in fermentation. When the inoculant does succeed in improving fermentation, reductions in bunk stability have been frequently observed in rese
