THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUFFER INDEX CURVE AND FERMENTATION QUALITY OF SILAGE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of using the buffer index curve as a criterion of silage quality evaluation. The buffer index (or buffer capacity, $\beta$) value is the amount of 0.1N NaOH consumed in titrating from the beginning to the end of the chosen pH step. This value equals the slope of the titration curve at the chosen pH range (${\beta}={\Delta}NaOH/{\Delta}pH$). There were two patterns of buffer index curve. Poorly preserved silages had a peak at pH 5.0, whereas with well preserved silages the peaks tended to rise to the pH 3.75 or 4.00. Well preserved, wilted silages with high pH also appeared to have peak values at pH 3.75 or 4.00. There was a high positive correlationship between the concentration of lactic acid and peak value of good quality silage (r = 0.994, p < 0.01). Also a high positive correlationship (r = 0.899, p < 0.001) was found between the sums of concentration of acetic and butyric acids and the peak values of poor quality silages. The results of these experiments verified the value of the buffer index method as a criterion of silage quality evaluation.