Studies on Silage-Making : On the Effect of Some Additives

The author has already published a few reports on the silage-making with some additives. In this paper the result of experiments carried on with 'Shochukasu' (lees of a distilled spirit made from sweet potatoes), starch feed (a by-product in starch manufacture), urea and A.I.V. acid will be reported. (1) A 7 : 3 mixture of white clover and wild plants was respectively preserved either with 'Shochukasu' or with starch feed as additives (cf. Table 1). Investigations on organic acids, the pH value, and the chemical composition of the silages, palatability to live-stock and on nutrient losses during the storage were made, and it was recognized that 'Shochukasu' and starch feed were effective as the additives to the silage-making. The ensiling may be expected as an effective preservation method of 'Shochukasu' itself. The silage prepared with 'Shochukasu' added at the rate of 43 per cent of the green plant seemed to be the most palatable feed to various amimals (cf. Table 4). (2) The use of the amount of 1 per cent of urea in silage-making with the sweet potato and rice bran (80 : 20) seemed to be harmless and the resulting silage was palatable to ruminants ; it had the following properties : pH 4.3, free lactic acid content 2.02, acetic acid content 0.53 and butyric acid content 0 per cent. And sweet potato vine silage prepared with the amount of 1 per cent of urea did not contain butyric acid either. (3) The teosinte silage prepared according to A.I.V. method had very good quality : pH 3.5, lactic acid content 1.58, acetic acid content 0.29 and butyric acid content 0 per cent. The nutrient losses in fermentation process were only 4 per cent in dry matter and 5 per cent in organic matter