Development of a Mechanical System to Produce Animal Feed from Rice Straw

Year 2024, , 35 - 48, 30.06.2024

Mohamed Ghonimy , Ahmed Suliman , Mohamed Morsy , Ahmed Abdel-atty , Ahmed Alzoheıry

https://doi.org/10.46592/turkager.1432932

Abstract

Rice straw stands out as the primary agricultural residue posing significant challenges for both farmers and the Egyptian government. Its volume accounts for approximately 18% of the total annual waste generated. Livestock farmers typically harvest the straw and feed it to their animals. However, the process of manually mixing molasses, urea, and salts with the straw often leads to inconsistent blending and uneven distribution of the mixture. This inconsistency poses a considerable risk to the health of the animals, potentially resulting in fatalities. Thus, a mechanical system for producing animal feed (rice straw cutting mixed with additives of urea, minerals and molasses) was developed. This system consists of a chopping unit, mixing unit, and pumping & distribution unit. Measurements included the uniformity of the cut rice straw pieces within the preferred size, the uniformity of the dissolved additives mixture and the uniformity of the additives distribution on cut rice straw. Crude protein and urea percentages were measured in the final product. The results showed a maximum production rate of 0.6 ton h-1 the suitability of the developed system for mixing the additives with the cut rice straw. The suitability of the developed system was determined through the uniformity of the distribution of the additives on the cut rice straw. The results showed that the optimum content of crude protein of 6.2% was found at urea content of 5% and a mixing unit shaft speed of 300 rpm and 5 min mixing time. Also, the developed system achieved a rate of return of 19% and a payback period of about two years.

Keywords

Additive, Animal feed, Rice straw, Mechanical system

Thanks

Thank you very much for your consideration and your comments will be highly appreciated

References

• Abo-Habaga MM, Yehia I and Abo-Elasaad GA (2019). Study some factors affecting the design of rice straw bales chopper. Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, 10(8): 471-475.
• Abreu D, Dubeux JJC, Queiroz LD, Jaramillo D, Da Silva Santos ER, van Cleef F, Vela-Garcia D, Dilorenzo N and Ruiz-Moreno M (2022). Supplementation of molasses-based liquid feed for cattle fed on limpograss hay. Animals, 12(17): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12172227
• Arif AM and Elaiwa AA (2009). Rice straw chopping for animal feed. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 87(4): 1109-1118. CMAE (Central Management of the Agricultural Economy) (2020). Estimations of the agricultural crops residues. Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt. https://moa.gov.eg/en/
• El Shal A and El Didamony M (2018). Performance of a maize chopping machine with an attached sharpener unit. Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, 9(12): 793-798. https://doi.org/10.21608/JSSAE.2018.36533
• Hashem FR, Ibrahim MM and Nasr GM (2022). Modification of a machine for chopping rice straw using circular saw. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 24(4): 230-243.
• Hashish AE, Hassan MA and Abd El-Mottaleb AF (1994). Some factors affecting on performance of chopping and grinding equipment for field raw materials. Misr Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 11(3): 669-682.
• Jiang W, Xiaoyan W, Hongwen L, Jin H, Caiyun L and Di L (2021). Design and experiment of rice straw chopping device for agitation sliding cutting and tearing. Nongye Jixie Xuebao/Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Machinery, 52(10): 41-50.
• Mendes FBL, Silva RR, de Carvalho GGP, da Silva FF, Lins TOJD, da Silva ALN, Macedo M, Filho GA, de Souza SO and Guimarães JO (2015). Ingestive behavior of grazing steers fed increasing levels of concentrate supplementation with different crude protein contents. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 47: 423-428. https:/doi.org/10.57447/ca.2019.v15.n5.a328
• Mohamed TH, Younis SM, Ghonimy MI and Baiomy MA (2001). Development of rice straw chopper. In Proceedings of the 9th Conference of Misr Society of Agricultural Engineering (pp. 9-11).
• Mohammed Aliyi K (2021). Effects of Feeding Urea-Molasses, Urea-Lime and Effective Micro-organism Treated Wheat Straw Basal Diets on Feed Intake and Growth Performance of Weaned Friesian- Borana Female Calves at Holetta Research Center, Ethiopia (Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University).
• Mu L, Wang Q, Cao X and Zhang Z (2022). Effects of fatty acid salts on fermentation characteristics, bacterial diversity and aerobic stability of mixed silage prepared with alfalfa, rice straw and wheat bran. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 102(4): 1475-1487. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.11482
• Oida A (1997). Using personal computer for Agricultural machinery management. Kyoto University. Japan. Jica Publ.
• Patel A, Singh KP and Roul AK (2023). Laboratory investigation on rotary impact cutter blade parameters for multistep cutting of paddy straw. Indian Journal of Ecology, 50(2): 519-525. https://doi.org/10.55362/IJE/2023/3929
• Promma S, Tasaki I, Cheva IB and Indratula T (1994). Stabilization with sulfuric acid of the crude protein in urea-treated rice straw. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science,7(4): 481-486. https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.1994.481
• Radwan HA (2000). Development of small self-driven untraditional feed-mill. Ph.D. Thesis, Fac. of Agric., Moushtohor, Zagazig Univ.
• Singh M, Goyal R, Verma A, Singh R and Singh M (2020). Comparative performance of different types of choppers for managing rice straw. Agricultural Research Journal, 57(4): 598-604. https://doi.org/10.5958/2395-146X.2020.00086.1
• Tinder R (2022). Asynchronous Sequential Machine design and analysis: A comprehensive development of the design and analysis of Clock-Independent State Machines and Systems. Springer Nature. Wang W, Tan X, Imtiaz M, Wang Q, Miao C, Yuan Z, and Zhuang X (2021). Rice straw pretreatment with KOH/urea for enhancing sugar yield and ethanol production at low temperature. Industrial Crops and Products, 170: 113776. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.indcrop.2021.113776 Younis SM, Ghonimy MI, Baiomy MA and Mohamed TH (2002). Techno-economic evaluation of a developed field crop residues chopper. Misr Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 9(4): 63-80.