Assessment of the Possibility of Flattening Micronized Feed Grain

Introduction. The micronization of feed grain allows improving the digestibility of grain feed. However, flattening micronized grain to feed animals is difficult because of its increased fragility that results in grain overflattening during the flattening process. This problem provides relevance of the study in the field of flattening micronized feed grains used to feed animals. Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at evaluating the applicability of flattening as a way to prepare micronized grain for feeding agricultural animals. Materials and Methods. The object of the study was the barley and rye grains micronized with infrared radiation without pre-moistening. On the first stage of the study, the micronized grains were flattened without preliminary moisturizing, on the second stage the moistened micronized grains were flattened and then the prepared flaky fraction moisture was evaluated and the prepared flaky fraction was sifted to verify that it meets the zootechnical requirements. Results. It has been found that the optimal flattening mode for preparing the flaky fraction is the one when the rotational rate of the rollers is 300 r/min and spacing between the rollers is 0.7 mm. The optimal moisture regime is adding up to 10% of moisture into micronized barley grains before flattening with the moisturing duration of 15 min. After flattening the amount of floury fraction was about 1.7% when the flaky part was 94% and the fraction passing through a 2.5 mm sieve was 3.95%, the thickness of flattened caryopsides was 1.67 mm. The flattening of micronized rye grains with the use of optimal regimes made it possible to prepare the flaky fraction in the amount of 89% with the flake thickness of 1.36 mm, passing through the sieve passage of 2.5 mm in the amount of 5.16% when the floury fraction was about 2%. Discussion and Conclusion. Moisturing of micronized grains allows improving the plasticity of caryopsides and provides the receiving of the flaky fraction, the yield of which meets the zoo-veterinary requirements. The usage of smooth rollers for a grain flattener results in the decrease of the floury fraction amount and makes flattening one of the ways to prepare micronized feed grains for feeding of agricultural animals.