UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1 BULLETIN No. 953 



Contribution from the Bureaa of Animal Industrr 

 T^t^ JOHN R. MOHLER, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



May 14, 1921 



NITROGEN AND OTHER LOSSES DURING THE 

 ENSILING OF CORN. 



By R. H. Shaw, Chemist, and P. A. Weight and E. F. Deysheb, Assistant 

 Chemists, Dairy Division. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Purpose of paper 1 



Previous investigations of nitrogen 



and other losses 1 



The experimental work 5 



Manner of placing and remov- 

 ing samples 5 



Collection of the juice 6 



Page. 

 The experimental work — Continued. 



Method of analyzing samples. _ 6 



Results of the analyses 6 



Discussion of results 9 



Conclusions l.") 



References to literature 15 



PURPOSE OF PAPER. 



The silo is primarily a means for conserving food material. With 

 the preservation through fermentation of the mass of corn or other 

 crops in the silo there is generally the loss of a small amount of food 

 material. Certain losses are apparently necessarj'^ in the proper fer- 

 mentation ; others are probabW unnecessary. 



For several years the Dairy Division has been studying to find out 

 more definitely what losses incident to the ensiling of corn are neces- 

 sary and what is the proper method of handling the crop to prevent 

 such losses. This bulletin deals with the losses of nitrogen and other 

 elements in corn silage made under ordinary farm conditions. 



PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. 



The earliest recorded studies of the loss of nitrogen and other 

 elements during the ensiling of corn were made with material very 

 low in dry matter and stored in pit or tub silos. 



Moser (1)/ at the Vienna Agricultural Experiment Station, buried 

 bundles of green maize, some wilted and some fresh, at different 



^ The figures in parentheses refer to the citations at the end of this bulletin, 

 33869°— 21 



