Silage Fermentation & Additives

The primary goal of making silage is to maximize the preservation of original nutrients in the forage crop for feeding at a later date. Unfortunately, fermentation in the silo is a very uncontrolled process usually leading to less than optimal preservation of nutrients. In order to assist in the fermentation process, various silage additives have been used to improve the nutrient and energy recovery in silage, often with subsequent improvements in animal performance. This review will focus on some practical aspects of the fermentation process and the uses of some common silage additives that includes microbial inoculants, enzymes, and buffered propionic acid. Several in-depth reviews have been written that are excellent supplements to this review (Bolsen, 1995; Muck and Kung, 1997; Kung and Muck, 1997).