Manufacture and Evaluation of an Alternative Feeds Production Machine | ||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||
| Article 15, Volume 11, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 801-808 PDF (1.35 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2020.160921 | ||
| Authors | ||
| A. M. El-Sheikha* 1; M. A. Al-Rajhi2; Hagar A. Amer1 | ||
| 1Agric. Eng. Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, Damitta Univ., Egypt | ||
| 2Agric. Eng. Research institute, Agric. Research Center, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The main objectives of this research are to fabricate a machine for producing a special feed with an easy operating system, that is suitable for small breeders, with low operating costs and high productivity, as well as substitution of barley grains in the feed components by sprouted barley in order to reduce costs and to increase amount of green feed and percentage of protein. The fabricated machine consisted of four main units; power and power transmission unit; chopping unit; mixing unit and pelletizing unit. Experiments were conducted to test the fabricated machine under three levels of moisture content for sprouted barley (70.09, 79.71 and 81.35 %); three different die holes’ diameters (4, 6 and 8 mm); and three mixing times (10, 15 and 20 minutes). The results indicated that the mean bulk density was 443.3 Kg/m3.The mean shear force was 0.68 N. The mean vertical and horizontal rupture forces were 3.04 and 4.11 N, respectively. The mean machine productivity was 31.78 kg/hr. The mean mixing efficiency was 81.14 %. The mean pelletizing efficiency was 75.75 %. The mean specific energy requirement 74.47 Kw.hr/Mg. The chemical analysis of produced pellets indicated that ash content was 9.1 %, protein was 21.26 % and fat was 1.98 %, so it is recommended to use the fabricated machine for producing alternative feed. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| sprouted barley; chopping; mixing; pelletizing; alternative feeds | ||
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