3 reasons Crop-N-Rich® MTD/1® or Drive silage inoculants are a good investment

Two Vita Plus silage inoculants – Crop-N-Rich^® MTD/1^® and Drive – preserve silage quality and quantity by improving fermentation efficiency through the production of lactic acid and a more rapid drop in silage pH.

The active ingredient of Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 is Lactobacillus plantarum MTD/1, which is a lactic acid-producing bacteria. Furthermore, it is the most widely researched strain of L. plantarum available today.

Drive, a Vita Plus inoculant, contains three types of lactic acid-producing bacteria.

Why would you put one of these inoculants to work in your silage program?  Consider these research- and farm-proven results.

• Forage quality is better preserved.

Both Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 and Drive accelerate lactic acid production and thus create a low pH environment in the silo.  This acidic environment is hostile to undesirable microorganisms such as Clostridia and Enterobacteria.  These microorganisms are found everywhere, consume quality proteins, and produce ammonia, butyric acid, and biogenic amines.  When present, these cause a decline in silage nutritional quality and palatability, and subsequently reduce animal dry matter (DM) intake and performance. Therefore, the rapid pH drop fueled by the bacteria in Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 and DRIVE are crucial to minimize the growth of detrimental bacteria and preserving forage quality.

• Dry matter recovery is improved.

Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 and Drive improve forage quantity in addition to forage quality as more DM is preserved in the silage mass.  Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 has more than 200 fermentation trials showcasing an average DM recovery improvement of 3.4% across all crops versus untreated silages.

This means that, by treating all silages fed in the course of 365 days, a farm would gain an additional 12.4 days of feed due to improved DM recovery from the silage inoculant.

• Silage inoculants are cost-effective.

Silage inoculant prices are relatively stable. Forages are more prone to price fluctuation than the inoculants themselves. Low or high forage prices should not deter farms from applying silage inoculants.

For example, assuming corn silage is valued at $60 per ton and the retail cost of Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 is $0.65 per treated ton, 1% of the corn silage DM would need to be preserved to breakeven on the investment in the silage inoculant. In the instance where the price of forages increases, the percentage of forage you need to preserve to breakeven on the inoculant investment will decrease (Table 1).

*It is important to keep in mind that improvements in feed quality and/or animal performance associated with the application of Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 or Drive could further impact on the breakeven point of the inoculant investment, but were not considered in the above discussion.

For more information related to Crop-N-Rich MTD/1 or Drive silage inoculants, or to access tools, training, and strategies to get the most from your forage, contact your local Vita Plus nutritionist.