AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CHANGES WHICH 



OCCUR DURING THE ENSILAGE OF 



OATS AND TARES. 



By ARTHUR AMOS, M.A. 

 AND HERBERT ERNEST WOODMAN, Ph.D., D.Sc. 



{School of AgricitUnrc, Vanibridijc U nircrsilij.) 



Introduction. 



The practice of ensilage has been rapidly gaining adherents in the 

 British Isles since Mr Cxeorge Jaques began to advocate the oat and tare 

 crop for this purpose in 1913. In view of this fact, it becomes increasingly 

 important for the scientist to be in a position to supply the ])ractitioner 

 with facts from which he may be able to calculate the probable economy 

 of the system before investing the nece.ssary capital in a silo. One of 

 us^ has already made such a tentative calculation based upon a some- 

 what limited knowledge of those facts. It is the purpose of these experi- 

 ments to amplify knowledge in one direction, namely, in that of the 

 chemical changes which occur during the ensilage of oats and tares, so 

 that one may know what are the losses and what the gains, if any, in 

 chemical constituents during the process. 



One of us'^ has recently shown that it is possible to produce at least 

 five distinct types of silage from the same crop. It is, therefore, equally 

 important to be able to state definitely which of these occasion the least 

 net loss during ensilage, and to endeavour by controlling the factors 

 concerned to reduce to a minimum the losses in the making of those 

 types of silage which appear most economical. 



The experiences gained with maize silage in America and elsewhere, 

 useful though they be, do not bear directly upon the present problem of 

 oat and tare silage, because the chemical composition of the two crops 

 is very different. 



Prehminary work was begun in 19f8 when the late Mr Gwilym 

 Williams assisted on the chemical side of the work, but in the earlier 



' Ensilage by Aitliiir Amos, .louriial of Funiurs Clnb, March l'J20. 

 - Amos and Williams, This Volume, p. 323. 



