27 Nov 2023
Thermal Treatments: Microbiology and Physical Quality of Feed
The cost of feed plays a significant role in animal production, as it represents around 70% of the cost of live animals or derived products.
Therefore, maximizing feed utilization, improving the productive efficiency index through enhanced feed conversion, and reducing the negative impact of microorganisms are essential for economic and environmental viability. One way to enhance this efficiency is through thermal treatment of the feed.
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Main variables addressed in thermal treatments:
These variables can be worked on with different correlated intensities and will depend mainly on:
Main thermal treatments used in feed manufacturing:
Thermo-conditioning: Thermal treatment without a change in physical format. It involves heating the feed, generally via indirect heat, with the basic aim of sanitizing the feed, i.e., reducing or eliminating microorganisms. This is used more for breeding birds and commercial laying hens with the goal of maintaining particle size advantages.
Pelleting: This is the most widely used process in the balanced feed industry, especially for economically significant animals (pigs, poultry, cattle, etc.). In this process, meal feed is transformed into pellets. It is the most well-known process with fewer doubts about economic and operational viability.
Expansion:This process uses pressure as a variable with greater intensity and is usually employed as an intensification process in pelleting lines. It is also used to thermally treat (expand) individual or combined products…
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You may also like to read: “Thermal treatment of raw materials used in ruminant diets”
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AUTHORS
This text aims to provide some reference operation parameters for different processes, with a focus on pelleting and expansion, particularly for formulas classified as high-starch content (broilers and growing/finishing pigs), aiming to improve outcomes with the use of these processes. 
