Advantages of ungrounded feed stressed
An eFeedLink Exclusive
An animal nutrition expert, Dr. B. Svihus of the Agricultural University of Norway, has briefed a select group of feed production executives in Thailand on the crucial role of ''structural materials'' in maximising the digestibility of diets for broilers and layers.
Structural materials, he explained at a seminar at the Dusit Princess Hotel in Bangkok recently, ''can either be ungrounded or coarsely ground cereals, or fibrous material such as oat hulls or rice hulls.'' The day-long seminar was attended by about 20 key executives from the Thailand's feed and livestock industries.
Addition of such materials to commercial poultry diets, he said, could stimulate gizzard development, resulting in improved nutrient digestibility. Lab experiments done at the Agricultural University of Norway, Dr. Svihus added, showed that proper grinding or pelleting of raw materials helped maximise the feed value in animals.
''In Europe and in an increasing number of other countries around the world, diets are changed to allow for a coarser structure,'' he said, adding that this new technology ''reduces feed cost and improves feed utilization''.
During the seminar, Forberg International sales director Hilde Nordhal underscored ''the role and importance of the mixing process'' in the production line of a feed mill, citing key factors that he said influenced the quality of the feed mixture.
Nordhal then explained how the Forberg twin shaft mixing technology''overcomes challenges of the mixing process,'' ensuring among other things gentle mixing to avoid crushing the products being mixed.
He pointed out that twin-shaft mixing, adopted in Forberg's new continuous mixing technology, helped promote the integrity of structural materials spoken of by Dr. Svihus.
