Changes in nitrogen distribution in crop conservation. I.—the rate and extent of protein breakdown in ensilage

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Abstract
By the use of small experimental ‘silos’ (bottles containing grass sap) it is shown that the initial breakdown of protein is extremely rapid, but slows markedly at a pH of about 5. In a well‐made silage this pH is attained very quickly, but most of the eventual protein loss has, nevertheless, occurred in this short time. The pH continues to fall rapidly, but further breakdown is very small and virtual nitrogen equilibrium is reached at a pH of about 4.3. About 25% of the original protein is degraded, presumably by enzymic proteolysis, and the evidence indicates that breakdown cannot be reduced significantly below this figure when silage is made by the ‘ordinary’ process in which the gradual development of the requisite acidity is a function of bacterial metabolism.
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