Water determination in silages by Karl Fischer titration

✍ Scribed by Guido C. Galletti; Roberta Piccaglia

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 341 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2740430102

✦ Synopsis

Fischer titration was applied to water determination in a series of silages including agro-industrial by-products. The results were compared with those obtained by oven drying at I W C , with and without Dulphy and Demarquilly correction for the loss of fermentation products during oven drying.

The corresponding dry matter ( D M ) was significantly higher by the Karl Fischer method than by oven drying, whereas non-significant differences were observed when the Dulphy and Demarquilly correction was adopted.

Accuracy of Karl Fischer titration was proved by comparison with oven drying on rehydrated silage. The Dulphy and Dernarquilly equation was satisfactory for the correction of the D M determined by oven drying even in unusual feedstuffs, but required the separate determination of the fermentation products. Such time-consuming determinations are avoided in the Karl Fischer method, which is simple, rapid and accurate.