Effect of moisture content of granulated fodder on its dosing in feed station

Abstract

Currently, in animal production, increasing precision in concentrate feeding is required. The quality of dosing the feed materials is strongly influenced by their physical properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of the moisture content of granulated fodder on the accuracy of its dosing in a cattle feed station. The research was carried out at the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. To characterize the granulated fodder, its bulk density and mechanical durability were determined at different moisture contents. The tests of mechanical durability of fodder were determined according to the ISO 17831-1:2015 standard. To achieve the aim of this work, a cattle feed station with a spiral feeder was used. The experiments were carried out at five feeder capacities from 0.2 to 1 kgmin-1 for four levels of fodder moisture content in the range from 9 to 18 %. To determine the accuracy of dosing the fodder through the spiral feeder, the dosing accuracy indicator was determined. A statistically significant effect of the tested parameters on accuracy of dosing the fodder was shown. It was found that the increase in the moisture content of the granulated fodder increases the accuracy of its dosing. Moisture content of granules above 16 % with a dosing capacity higher than 0.8 kgmin-1 results in accuracy of dosing of above 2 %. The highest value of dosing accuracy was achieved for 18 % of granulate moisture content.