Anaerobic Spore‐formers in Grass and Grass Silage

SUMMARY The number of anaerobic spores in fresh grass appears always to be small but, in silage made from such grass, this group of organisms increases in numbers after the first few days until approximately 1,000,000 or rather more per g. are present, and these high numbers are maintained usually for several weeks. In silages made from young spring grass Clostridium sporogenes was isolated at all stages of ripening, and no other types were found in comparable numbers. In silage made from autumn grass, however, which had a considerably higher moisture content owing to inefficient drainage in the silos, and in silage made from similar grass to which various substances containing available carbohydrates had been added at the time of ensiling, strains of saccharolytic anaerobes were isolated in addition to Cl. sporogenes.