Innoculant: A big cost but is it worth it?

Before I go any further, it is important for me to declare my position.  I work for Pioneer.  We sell silage inoculants. I will not be talking about any other company’s products on the market but will restrict my comments to principles around inoculants and their use.

Make sure the inoculant you use comes from a reputable company.

Inoculants are sold by a wide range of companies. Some have a long history of providing good, science-based products into the market. Others don’t.  A person selling inoculant should be able to show you evidence from several trials that the actual product you are buying is proven to work.  If they can’t give you any data, or they provide general inoculant trial data that did not test their actual product, then don’t buy their inoculant.

Make sure the inoculant does what it says it does.

Look for a label claim. A product that can be trusted will say what type of bacteria are present in the inoculant and provide bacterial numbers. 

There should be some kind of quality certification system that ensures every bottle meets the minimum standards. Some products on the market leave bacterial numbers off the label and therefore they can’t be held accountable for product quality because their inoculant has no minimum standards. There have been situations in the past where inoculants bought off the shelf didn’t provide the number of live bacteria they claimed.

Make sure the inoculant you buy is backed by good after sales service.

It is important that the person selling you an inoculant is able to provide the after sales service you deserve. This includes things like advice on stack management and best feed out practices. If you encounter a silage quality or feeding issue you need to be sure that the person who sold you the inoculant will be there when you call them.

Make sure the inoculant you buy is supported by good science that proves it works.

My colleague Shaun Body ran four local trials comparing uninoculated maize silage with maize silage treated Pioneer® brand 11C33 Rapid React (11C33RR). A new product on the New Zealand market, but sold extensively overseas, 11C33RR claims to improve front end fermentation and then reduce feed out losses by keeping the silage cool. 

In the trials, maize silage that was uninoculated or inoculated with 11C33RR was exposed to air after 9-11 days or 60 days. The time before heating (aerobic stability) and drymatter losses were measured for both opening times (Table 1).

Applying 11C33RR inoculant to maize silage doubled the aerobic stability and halved the aerobic losses when the silage was exposed to air after 9-11 days.  If the silage was opened after 60 days, the aerobic stability of the 11C33RR inoculated maize silage increased to 135 hours and the losses were only 25% of the untreated silage. Simply put, 11C33RR works. By doing the trial, Shaun was able to clearly show that 11C33RR did exactly what it claimed to do under New Zealand conditions.

Return on Investment

I have used the trial results (above) to calculate the return on the investment from using 11C33RR.

For both early opening and later opening of the stack, the inoculant proved to be an excellent investment. For the early opening every dollar invested, returned $2.53 with the later opening giving a $3.79 return for every dollar invested.

In conclusion, some inoculants are a great investment and its worthwhile spending your money on them. If someone is trying to sell you an unproven product or one that lacks bacterial numbers or quality control standards, leave your money in your back pocket.

• Ian Williams is a Pioneer forage specialist. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.