PLANT JUICES IN RELATION TO SILAGE FERMENTATION III. E<scp>ffect of water activity of juice</scp>

Abstract

The water activity of juice available for fermentation, after breakdown of the cell walls during the ensiling of plant material, depends largely on the moisture content of the sample. Water activity increases with moisture content, but probably never becomes so high as seriously to limit lactic‐acid fermentation, although high moisture contents have other detrimental effects. With low moisture contents, the limited availability of the juice rather than its lowered water activity is most probably the factor primarily responsible for poor lactic‐acid production.