1907J MAIZK AS A KODUKk AND SlLAGE CROP. 2 1 



During the past three seasons experiments have been carried 

 out to ascertain what the losses actually are. A large sample of 

 maize, weighing about 20 or 30 lb., is taken at the time oi 

 filling the silo, a small sub-sample is drawn from this for analysis, 

 and the bulk weighed into a sack and sewn up. A maximum 

 thermometer is also put in to register the temperature. Several 

 similar sacks arc prepared and thrown into the silo at different 

 depths. When, some months later, the sacks are recovered, 

 the contents are weighed and analysed and the loss calculated. 



The figures for one of the bags in the season 1905-06, which 

 may be taken as typical, arc given in the table below, and it 

 is important to notice 1 that the losses show n take place in the 

 sound part of the silage ; they become even greater if allowance 

 is made for the decomposed and useless matter at the top of the 

 silo. The loss in dry matter has not been less than 29 per cent., 

 it has even risen to 47*6 per cent. ; the nitrogen free extract 

 suffers most and the fibre least. The figures lend no support 

 to the common view that indigestible fibre breaks down and 

 becomes nutritious during the process. 





Fresh 

 Materials. 



' Dry 

 Matter. 



Nitn )gen 



Free 

 Extract. 



Fibre. 



1 



Protein. 









Ib. 



lb. 



lh. 



11, 



lb. 



Put into hag ... 



i8*s 





177 



1 -03 



'35 



Recovered from bag... 



1 5*5 



2*IO 



•«3 



78 



'-5 



LOSS in lb 



3-0 



I- 3 8 



•94 



' - s 



'IO 



Percentage loss 



16 21 



39 62 



52 97 



2417 



23 30 



Can these losses be avoided ? There is no reason to suppose 

 that they can to any great extent. Their cause is fairly well 

 established: they are partly due to physiological processes 

 going <>n in the cell before and probably after death, and partly 

 to the activity of micro-organisms. W hen the maize is put Into 

 the silo the cells are still living, respiration continues, though 

 in an abnormal form, and the sugars and other substances 

 in tin- cell are resolved into carbonic acid, water, volatile acids, 

 cv'\ 1 his process involves an absolute loss of material, since 

 the cell is no longer able to elaborate new food, and one doe- 

 not at all see how it can be prevented by anv economical mean-. 

 1 he loss due to bacterial activity can be minimised, but not 

 altogether prevented, by careful exclusion of air. The con- 

 ditions obtaining in the silo are not favourable to the develop- 



