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Article: Investigating inoculants: key points to consider when treating silage.(usage of homolactic acid bacteria)
- Article from:
- Dairy Today
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Farm Journal Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If you have a hard time evaluating silage inoculants, you are not alone. Charlie Stamey has used a number of different inoculants over the past 15 years. "Some work better than others, and it's difficult to pinpoint which one works best," says the Statesville, N.C., dairy producer.
It's no wonder: The labeling of inoculants is highly variable and makes comparing products difficult, says Richard Muck, an agricultural engineer with the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center.
"What's critical is the number of homolactic acid bacteria applied per unit of crop," Muck says. "Buy a product that applies at least 90 billion live lactic acid bacteria per ton crop as ...