DA Technology

High dry matter (DM) crops are more prone to aerobic spoilage, especially at feedout. This results in high DM losses, significantly reducing their potential intake and production advantages. There are also implications for animal health and fertility due to the risk of mycotoxin formation in aerobically spoiled silages.’

Potassium sorbate is a very effective inhibitor of the yeasts and moulds which cause aerobic spoilage. However, because it is also inhibitory to bacteria, it can’t normally be combined in with a lactic acid bacteria inoculant.

The development of unique formulation techniques has enabled MTD/1 bacteria and potassium sorbate to be combined in DA Ecostable (and other DA additives). As the graph below shows, without this special formulation almost half of the inoculant bacteria are killed by the sorbate within four hours of making up the tank mix, while the bacteria in the DA formulation are unharmed.

Trials have proved that mixing MTD/1 bacteria with sorbate results in no reduction in the performance of the inoculant. There is also no difference in the amount of lactic acid produced or pH achieved.