The loss of carotene from dried green crop during storage.—The gradient of loss through a stack

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Abstract
Considerably more carotene was lost from the middle of a commercial type stack of dry lucerne meal than from the edges. The percentage loss, small near the outermost edges of paper sacks which were exposed to air, rose sharply in the first few cm. and then more gradually to the centre of the stack. Part of the increased loss in the centre was due to the higher temperature there. The major part of the difference in the rates of loss was due to the protective effect of moisture taken up from the air at the outer surfaces of the stack. These conclusions were verified by isolating sections of stacks of dry meal in tubes 21/2 metres long closed at one end and so stored as to eliminate temperature gradients. Loss of carotene was high within a tube except near the exposed end where moisture had been taken up.