202 LACTIC ACID BACTERIA IN FODDER 



With regard to the losses of matter inherent in this process, that consisting 

 of carbohydrates need not be further dilated upon, since it is evidently un- 

 avoidable, being intimately connected with the production of heat on the one 

 hand, and on the other with the formation of lactic acid. Greater importance 

 attaches to the modifications effected in the albuminoids during the process, and 

 these changes also afford a means for determining its value. The numerous 

 researches made on this point all tend to prove that the conversion of green 

 fodder into green pressed fodder is attended with a substantial loss of digestible 

 albuminoids, the amount of the loss being in direct proportion to the water- 

 content of the fresh material. The ferments consume a large amount of the 

 albuminoids initially present, and decompose them into amide compounds, 

 ammonia derivatives, and even ammonia all substances of but little, if any, 

 use for the nutrition of animals which are to be killed for food. In the cases 

 reported by Albert, the amount of these matters eliminated ranged from 1 3 to 3 i 

 per cent, of the total nitrogenous matter (crude protein) present. 



156. Sour Fodder 



is prepared in pits some 40 to 80 inches in depth, and 80 to 120 inches wide, the 

 length depending on the quantity of fodder to be treated. The most important 

 raw materials are the exhausted slices of beet-root from sugar-factories, fodder- 

 beet, potatoes (previously steamed), frozen sugar-beet, chaffed maize stalks, &c. 

 The silo is tightly filled' with these and covered with a layer of chop (chaff), 

 surmounted with a thick stratum of soil, and over this again are laid boards, 

 weighted with sufficient stones to produce a pressure of about 1000 kilos, per 

 square metre (nearly 2000 Ibs. per square yard). Since practically no oxygen 

 can penetrate the interior of the compressed mass, the activity of the thermogenic 

 bacteria is very much impeded. Nevertheless, the temperature rises to some 

 extent, as a result of bacterial activity, but not to anything like the degree attained 

 in the case of green pressed fodder, and, in fact, generally remains below 35 C. 

 Observations on this point were made by K. Schatzmann in a silo of elliptical 

 ground plan, and having a capacity of 37 cubic metres (1307 cubic feet). On the 

 2nd day after filling, the internal temperature registered 26 0., and attained on 

 the 1 6th day a maximum of 34 C. ; afterwards subsiding, so that on the 36th day 

 23 C., on the 56th day 19 0., on the 86th day 12 C., and on the io6th day 

 8 C. were recorded. Under such conditions, the heat-loving lactic acid bac- 

 teria could not be expected to gain the upper hand ; and, as a matter of fact, a 

 number of highly divergent fermentative organisms take part in the production of 

 sour fodder, the percentage of volatile acids in the fodder being correspondingly 

 high, and the smell consequently sour. In this process the loss of matter is still 

 greater than was found in the case of green pressed fodder, and in an instance 

 examined by Julius Kiihn amounted to 23.4 per cent, of the total dry substance. 

 The loss is principally borne by the non-nitrogenous extractive matter (carbo- 

 hydrates, &c.), then by fermentable woody fibres, and finally by the albuminoids, 

 of which (in consequence of their conversion into amido-compounds) about 40 

 per cent, disappeared in the above-mentioned experiment (with soured green 

 maize). In a second instance (beet slices), the loss was 18-62 per cent. ; and in 

 a third (soured beet leaves tested by 0. Kellner) as much as 68 per cent. 

 Although these high proportions of loss in the souring process are regrettable, 

 it should not be forgotten that the fodder materials now in question would 

 be entirely wasted unless utilised by means of this process, whereas, when 

 so manipulated, a considerable proportion of their nutritive constituents can in 

 any case be preserved. This souring process can always be relied on to yield 

 comparatively good results where all other methods for preserving a given fodder 



