The chemical composition of grass silage

Abstract

A short account is given of the main changes which take place during the ensilage process. Details are given of the methods of analysis used in examining samples of silage for pH, crude-protein, volatile base, amino acid, lactic acid, total volatile acid, acetic acid and butyric acid contents. The results of the examination of 293 samples of silage are discussed. Of these 258 were made from grassland herbage, 24 from silage crops, 9 from sugar-beet tops, and 2 from potatoes. The silages were made in towers, wood-lined pits, and a small number in stacks or clamps. The samples are divided up into those made by the ordinary process, with added molasses, with added whey, with moderate amounts of mineral acid with or without molasses, and with mineral acids added in amounts sufficient to bring the mass rapidly to a pH of 3·0–4·0—the A.I.V. process.For comparative purposes the silages made by these processes have been divided, within each process, into groups of varying pH. reaction.