Fermenting energy crops
Many farmers think, that ensiling corn is unproblematic compared to ensiling grass. They only apply silage additives to inhibit molds and heat. Everything seems all right as long as energy content and pH-value are OK.
With the growing demand of highly digestible, high-energy silages for anaearobic digesters, new questions on silages and the ensiling process have arisen. It is being noticed that despite good energy content and proper pH values, problems still occur in anaerobic digesters.
Besides the knowledge that (invisible) losses occur in every silage before opening, the origin of those losses is gradually being found out. On the one hand the natural Lactobacillus buchneri is known for causing high dry matter losses by conversing carbohydrates in acetic acid, volatile alcohols and carbon dioxide (heterofermentative fermentation).
On the other hand yeasts break down carbohydrates during fermentation but also during the anaerobic storage phase. Because these losses are invisible, they often stay unnoticed. Everyone who bothers to measure their silage will notice a difference of 4-6% before and after weighing. This means in plain language: up to 60 kg highly digestible energy is lost per tonne silage.
Not because you made a mistake, but solely because you are making silage.
On the basis of these findings the worldwide biggest producer of lactic acid bacteria has developed a product over the last few years which reduces dry matter losses in silage considerably. On the one hand the contained strain eliminates the natural heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria which are ineffective, on the other hand it specifically inhibits certain yeasts. Thus more energy in form of carbohydrates is left, which increases not only gas yield in biogas plants / anearobic digesters but forage intake and milk yield of the cows as well.  To our products:
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