JOIMAL OF AGRICCITIIRAL RESEARCH 



Vol. XVIII Washington, D. C, December 15, 191 9 No. 6 



LOSSES OF ORGANIC MATTER IN MAKING BROWN AND 



BLACK ALFALFA^ 



By C. O. SwANSON, L. E. Cai<i., and S. C. Salmon, Kansas Agricultural Experiment 



Station 



Large losses of alfalfa ^ due to improper curing of the first crop have 

 led to the employment of methods other than that of curing in the field 

 and stacking. Some farmers convert the green alfalfa into silage, but 

 there are so many difficulties ^ in making good silage from alfalfa that 

 this method is rarely practised. Others stack the alfalfa in a partially 

 wilted condition. The great weight excludes the air, and fermentations 

 occur somewhat similar to those which occur in a silo. The product is 

 known as brown and black alfalfa. The degree of color depends upon 

 the conditions which control the nature and extent of the fermentations. 

 Some of these conditions are moisture content of the alfalfa when stacked, 

 size and shape of the stack, and temperature and rainfall during the time 

 of curing. Such alfalfa, according to growers who use this method, is 

 relished by cattle; and some practical feeders consider it superior to 

 ordinary alfalfa hay. 



However, when fermentation occurs there is evidently a loss in nutri- 

 tive value. Since the nature and amount of these losses apparently were 

 unknown, the writers decided to investigate them and also to compare 

 the feeding value of black and brown alfalfa with that cured in the usual 

 way. 



For the purpose of this experiment a uniform field of alfalfa, estimated 

 to make a 45- to 50-ton stack, was selected. The alfalfa was cut, wilted 

 for a few hours and stacked in the open, each load being weighed sepa- 

 rately. Some wilting was considered necessary in order to get a desira- 

 ble product and also because hay loaders will not work satisfactorily in 

 unwilted alfajfa. 



' Contribution from the Department of Agronomy (paper No. i6) and the Department of Chemistry of 

 the Agricultural Experiment Station of the Kansas State Agricultural College. The Department of Ani- 

 mal Husbandry conducted the feeding trials. The chemical work was done in the anah'tical laboratory 

 in charge of Assistant Professor W. L. Latshaw. 



2 Headden, William P. alfalfa. Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 35, p. 11-13. 1896. 



SwANsoN, C. O., and Latshaw, W. L. chemical composition of alfalfa as affected by stage op 

 MATURITY, mech.\nical LOSSES, AND CONDITIONS OF CURING. In Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chem., v. 8, no. 

 8, p. 726-729. 1916. 



*SwANSON, C. O., and Tague, E. L. chemical studies in m.\king alfalfa silage. In Jour. Agr. 

 Research, v. 10, no. 6, p. 275-292. 1917- 



Reed, O. E., and Fitch, J. B. alfalf.\ silage. Kans. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 217, 19 p., 2 fig. 1917. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XVIII, No. 6 



Washington, D. C. Dec. 15, 1919 



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