SOUR FODDER '. 263 



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 sub- 

 stances 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 13 to 31 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 (pre- 

 viously 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. Observa- 

 tions on this point were made by R. 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 tem- 

 perature registered 26 C., and attained on the i6th day a maxi- 

 mum of -34 C. ; afterwards subsiding, so that on the 36th day 

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

 on the io6th day 8 C. were recorded. Under such conditions, 

 the heat-loving lactic acid bacteria 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 (carbohydrates, &c.), then by fermentable woody fibres, 



