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Extruded mixed fodders on the basis of lucerne cutting
B.V.Egorov, doctor, prof., academ., the head of the mixed fodder technologies depart.,
В.В Goncharenko, cand., ass. prof. of the mixed fodder technologies department,
N.V.Horenzhyj, the assistant of the mixed fodder technologies department,
The Odessa national academy of food technologies
The secret of profitability of mixed fodder industry is simple and lies in manufacture of such production which would combine simultaneously low price and guaranteed high productivity. However in practice manufacturers in their struggle for outlet emphasize as a rule on one of these components. Some of them produce on the basis of unvaluable but not expensive raw stock to the detriment of nutritiousness. Others, on the contrary, use expensive fodder means and apply techniques fully opening their nutritiousness but thus making production more expevsive.
One of the most effective and frequently used techniques is thermal processing. The following methods of thermal processing (TP) are known: micronization, processing by infra-red waves, tosting, graining, extrusion and expanding etc. For the last years graining has lost its important role in the structure of technological process of mixed fodders production and it is nowadays applied mainly with the purpose of production formation and liquidation of the phenomenon of self-sorting. Today expanding and extrusion are the most effective ways of TP used as in complex with graining and independently. However extrusion is more accessible. There are three kinds of extrusion:
- "cold" resulting in mechanical changes owing to slow material moving to form the finished product,
- "Hot" at high pressure – not in feed mills industry,
- "Hot" at low pressure. At this way dry mixed fodder components are humidified by water or steamed and charged into extruder where not only mechanical deformations but also TP take place.
In addition to the basic processes mixing and crushing occur inside an extruder due to the material deformations.
Extrusion is a complex process which advantages are not fully realised in practice and which opportunities are not completely investigated. Besides its use can fundamentally change the technology of mixed fodder production. As in extrusion process the product can lose humidity up to 50 % from initial it allows to consider an opportunity of including high moisture components into mixed fodder structure, for example, inexpensive and highly nourishing fodder grasses. Direct use of such fodder means without their preprocessing is not inherent to feed mills industry because of a small period of storage and low processibility. The used way of fodder grasses processing – grass flour production–is unprofitable today owing to extremely high expenses for drying.
The purpose of research was in studying an opportunity of mixed fodder production on the basis of fodder grasses with application of extrusion process. The object of research was lucerne blue gybrid with initial humidity 65-70 % crushed to the particles no more than 10 mm, mixed fodders formulas and loose and extruded mixed fodders including lucerne.
Lucerne has been chosen among fodder grasses for its prevailing in the general structure of Ukrainian sown areas intended for fodder grasses. Besides it has great fodder value because of the high content of protein, β carotin, etc.
The preliminary experiments which have been carried out in ОNАFT on the mixed fodder technologies department have confirmed an opportunity to include fodder grasses cutting into mixed fodders with their further processing.
At the initial stage of investigation mixed fodder formulas for cattle breeding including lucerne are developed. Cattle was chosen because much lucerne grassy flour was traditionally included into mixed fodders for these animals.
Grass cutting amount in the formula is caused by zootechnik requirements for grass flour contents in mixed fodders for cattle breeding 3 – 10 % that corresponds to lucerne quantity 10 – 30 %.
To define mixed fodder technological properties the samples of loose mixed fodders of specified structure were made. The results of the researches have shown that the quality of all samples is unsatisfactory: low flowability, a large angle of natural slope and what is important too high humidity. It’s clear that such finished products will have very small storage period.
To eliminate this deffect extrusion by means of industrial extruder EZ – 150 manufactured by joint-stock company "Cherkassyelevatormash" (Ukraine) has been applied. To ensure normal equipment operation the humidity of samples was set not much than 16 – 26 % what was achieved due to adding the definite quantity of crude lucerne cutting. Despite of this the sample № 3 has an increased humidity even after extrusion and demands additional expenses for drying. Therefore it is expedient to include grass cutting into mixed fodders in amount of 10 – 20 %. Further researches were carried out with mixed fodders of this structure.
As all loose fodder means differ much from grass cutting by their physicomechanical properties and humidity there is a problem of dispensing uniformity of mixed fodder components on extruded articles. The least mixed fodder component i.e. salt is chosen as the indicator. Variation index of this component will testify the heterogeneity of loose components dispensing. As grass cutting is a part of mixed fodder structure it is also necessary to establish its distribution on the bulk of extruded articles. With this purpose β carotin distribution which content in cutting is the greatest was determined.
According to carried out researches grass cutting distribution on extruded articles is worse than distibution of loose components. It is testified by the large intervals in the fluctuation of β carotin variation index. It is necessary to note that with grass cutting in amount of 10 – 15 % the components dispensning uniformity is much higher than at 20 %.
From the data shown in tab. 2 it can be seen that mixed fodders with grass cutting in amount of 10 – 20 % do not demand drying or graining characterizing grass flour manufacture. Namely these processes result in decrease of β carotin. It is established that at extrusion of mixed fodders of the specified structure its losses do not exceed 7-10 % whereas by grass flour manufacture the losses can make from 5 up to 50 % from the initial content.
A la carte technology forms the basis of the advanced mixed fooder production for cattle breeding with inclusion of crude grass cutting which basic scheme is shown on fig. 2. Differences in the suggested technology from traditional consist in the following.
From the line of grain raw material preparation the process of crushing which is realized during extrusion is excluded. The following factors testify to the advantages of this action: firstly, visual examination which has not revealed the whole grains or their halves in extruded articles, secondly – the results of chemical analyses. It is established that in extruded product the quantity of dextrines in comparison with loose one has increased on 30 % and the degree of starch gelatinization – on the average on 50 %.
The line of grass cutting preparation is provided. Charged grass cutting with the size of particles 25 – 30 mm is subjected to regrinding by means of the green forages grinder so that particles finess did not exceed 10 mm and also to clearing from metallomagnetic impurity. Than product is dosed out in the bunker equipped with strain gauges and is directed to the agitator in which redistribution of lucerne cutting to the portion of loose components preliminary mixture is carried out.
Thermal processing of the product during extrusion facilitates to the moisture removal, that allows to process fodder grasses in structure of mixed fodder production effectively without their preliminary or subsequent drying. The finished goods received according to advanced technology have satisfactory quality parameters and characterised by the increased β carotin content.
The advanced technology of mixed fodder production for cattle breeding with crude grass cutting inclusion inspite of extruder use is energy-conserving in comparison with the traditional technology of grass flour reception and mixed fodders manufacture with its inclusion. The comparative analysis has shown that the saving makes about 18 kw hour/tone. Besides including grasses with the increased natural moisture into mixed fodder helps to avoid additional expenses for its humidifying before extrusion.
Authors would like to note that the represented loose fodder means extrusion method in a combination with high-moisture fodder grasses is not restricted only by use with mixed fodders for cattle breeding and is applied also for monogastric animals and birds i.e. it is universal. The maximum grass cutting quantity included in such mixed fodders – should not exceed 15 % as there are restrictions concerning cellulose contents in the finished goods.
Besides the basic technological manufacture scheme of mixed fodder production with inclusion of crude grass cutting in the latter case undergoes some changes in comparison with the previous one. The main difference will be the following: not the whole mixed fodder but the mixture of grain and grass cutting is subjected to extrusion; than extruded articles are crushed and are directed to the main line of batching and mixing. If necessary the loose mixed fodder is subjected to graining.
On the basis of all above said it is possible to draw a conclusion that the suggested actions on the improvement of existing traditional technologies of mixed fodder production with the purpose of its price reduction and quality improvement are appropriate. Their realization will not demand special basic changes in present schemes of technological process – and additional fundamental investments for purchase of the new equipment. It means that these actions are accessible both to factories with the big capacity and to small feeding mills and feed preparation shops .
В.В Goncharenko, cand., ass. prof. of the mixed fodder technologies department,
N.V.Horenzhyj, the assistant of the mixed fodder technologies department,
The Odessa national academy of food technologies
The secret of profitability of mixed fodder industry is simple and lies in manufacture of such production which would combine simultaneously low price and guaranteed high productivity. However in practice manufacturers in their struggle for outlet emphasize as a rule on one of these components. Some of them produce on the basis of unvaluable but not expensive raw stock to the detriment of nutritiousness. Others, on the contrary, use expensive fodder means and apply techniques fully opening their nutritiousness but thus making production more expevsive.
One of the most effective and frequently used techniques is thermal processing. The following methods of thermal processing (TP) are known: micronization, processing by infra-red waves, tosting, graining, extrusion and expanding etc. For the last years graining has lost its important role in the structure of technological process of mixed fodders production and it is nowadays applied mainly with the purpose of production formation and liquidation of the phenomenon of self-sorting. Today expanding and extrusion are the most effective ways of TP used as in complex with graining and independently. However extrusion is more accessible. There are three kinds of extrusion:
- "cold" resulting in mechanical changes owing to slow material moving to form the finished product,
- "Hot" at high pressure – not in feed mills industry,
- "Hot" at low pressure. At this way dry mixed fodder components are humidified by water or steamed and charged into extruder where not only mechanical deformations but also TP take place.
In addition to the basic processes mixing and crushing occur inside an extruder due to the material deformations.
Extrusion is a complex process which advantages are not fully realised in practice and which opportunities are not completely investigated. Besides its use can fundamentally change the technology of mixed fodder production. As in extrusion process the product can lose humidity up to 50 % from initial it allows to consider an opportunity of including high moisture components into mixed fodder structure, for example, inexpensive and highly nourishing fodder grasses. Direct use of such fodder means without their preprocessing is not inherent to feed mills industry because of a small period of storage and low processibility. The used way of fodder grasses processing – grass flour production–is unprofitable today owing to extremely high expenses for drying.
The purpose of research was in studying an opportunity of mixed fodder production on the basis of fodder grasses with application of extrusion process. The object of research was lucerne blue gybrid with initial humidity 65-70 % crushed to the particles no more than 10 mm, mixed fodders formulas and loose and extruded mixed fodders including lucerne.
Lucerne has been chosen among fodder grasses for its prevailing in the general structure of Ukrainian sown areas intended for fodder grasses. Besides it has great fodder value because of the high content of protein, β carotin, etc.
The preliminary experiments which have been carried out in ОNАFT on the mixed fodder technologies department have confirmed an opportunity to include fodder grasses cutting into mixed fodders with their further processing.
At the initial stage of investigation mixed fodder formulas for cattle breeding including lucerne are developed. Cattle was chosen because much lucerne grassy flour was traditionally included into mixed fodders for these animals.
Grass cutting amount in the formula is caused by zootechnik requirements for grass flour contents in mixed fodders for cattle breeding 3 – 10 % that corresponds to lucerne quantity 10 – 30 %.
To define mixed fodder technological properties the samples of loose mixed fodders of specified structure were made. The results of the researches have shown that the quality of all samples is unsatisfactory: low flowability, a large angle of natural slope and what is important too high humidity. It’s clear that such finished products will have very small storage period.
To eliminate this deffect extrusion by means of industrial extruder EZ – 150 manufactured by joint-stock company "Cherkassyelevatormash" (Ukraine) has been applied. To ensure normal equipment operation the humidity of samples was set not much than 16 – 26 % what was achieved due to adding the definite quantity of crude lucerne cutting. Despite of this the sample № 3 has an increased humidity even after extrusion and demands additional expenses for drying. Therefore it is expedient to include grass cutting into mixed fodders in amount of 10 – 20 %. Further researches were carried out with mixed fodders of this structure.
As all loose fodder means differ much from grass cutting by their physicomechanical properties and humidity there is a problem of dispensing uniformity of mixed fodder components on extruded articles. The least mixed fodder component i.e. salt is chosen as the indicator. Variation index of this component will testify the heterogeneity of loose components dispensing. As grass cutting is a part of mixed fodder structure it is also necessary to establish its distribution on the bulk of extruded articles. With this purpose β carotin distribution which content in cutting is the greatest was determined.
According to carried out researches grass cutting distribution on extruded articles is worse than distibution of loose components. It is testified by the large intervals in the fluctuation of β carotin variation index. It is necessary to note that with grass cutting in amount of 10 – 15 % the components dispensning uniformity is much higher than at 20 %.
From the data shown in tab. 2 it can be seen that mixed fodders with grass cutting in amount of 10 – 20 % do not demand drying or graining characterizing grass flour manufacture. Namely these processes result in decrease of β carotin. It is established that at extrusion of mixed fodders of the specified structure its losses do not exceed 7-10 % whereas by grass flour manufacture the losses can make from 5 up to 50 % from the initial content.
A la carte technology forms the basis of the advanced mixed fooder production for cattle breeding with inclusion of crude grass cutting which basic scheme is shown on fig. 2. Differences in the suggested technology from traditional consist in the following.
From the line of grain raw material preparation the process of crushing which is realized during extrusion is excluded. The following factors testify to the advantages of this action: firstly, visual examination which has not revealed the whole grains or their halves in extruded articles, secondly – the results of chemical analyses. It is established that in extruded product the quantity of dextrines in comparison with loose one has increased on 30 % and the degree of starch gelatinization – on the average on 50 %.
The line of grass cutting preparation is provided. Charged grass cutting with the size of particles 25 – 30 mm is subjected to regrinding by means of the green forages grinder so that particles finess did not exceed 10 mm and also to clearing from metallomagnetic impurity. Than product is dosed out in the bunker equipped with strain gauges and is directed to the agitator in which redistribution of lucerne cutting to the portion of loose components preliminary mixture is carried out.
Thermal processing of the product during extrusion facilitates to the moisture removal, that allows to process fodder grasses in structure of mixed fodder production effectively without their preliminary or subsequent drying. The finished goods received according to advanced technology have satisfactory quality parameters and characterised by the increased β carotin content.
The advanced technology of mixed fodder production for cattle breeding with crude grass cutting inclusion inspite of extruder use is energy-conserving in comparison with the traditional technology of grass flour reception and mixed fodders manufacture with its inclusion. The comparative analysis has shown that the saving makes about 18 kw hour/tone. Besides including grasses with the increased natural moisture into mixed fodder helps to avoid additional expenses for its humidifying before extrusion.
Authors would like to note that the represented loose fodder means extrusion method in a combination with high-moisture fodder grasses is not restricted only by use with mixed fodders for cattle breeding and is applied also for monogastric animals and birds i.e. it is universal. The maximum grass cutting quantity included in such mixed fodders – should not exceed 15 % as there are restrictions concerning cellulose contents in the finished goods.
Besides the basic technological manufacture scheme of mixed fodder production with inclusion of crude grass cutting in the latter case undergoes some changes in comparison with the previous one. The main difference will be the following: not the whole mixed fodder but the mixture of grain and grass cutting is subjected to extrusion; than extruded articles are crushed and are directed to the main line of batching and mixing. If necessary the loose mixed fodder is subjected to graining.
On the basis of all above said it is possible to draw a conclusion that the suggested actions on the improvement of existing traditional technologies of mixed fodder production with the purpose of its price reduction and quality improvement are appropriate. Their realization will not demand special basic changes in present schemes of technological process – and additional fundamental investments for purchase of the new equipment. It means that these actions are accessible both to factories with the big capacity and to small feeding mills and feed preparation shops .
