Test and Analysis on the Molding Process Parameters of Alkalized Peanut Straw

Abstract

Peanut is an important oil crop and economic crop, whose straw is often used as livestock feed owing to its aromatic smell and rich nutrition. However, air-dried peanut straws have high hardness, poor palatability, low digestibility, plus loose structure and high storage and transportation costs, which affect its feed utilization. To solve the above problems, peanut straws are first alkalized to reduce the hemicellulose and lignin contents, thereby increasing its palatability and digestibility. Next, the alkalized peanut straws are subjected to single-hole compression molding experiments. Finally, the combination of appropriate process parameters is determined as follows: the average straw crushing particle size is about 5mm, the moisture content is between 10%~11%, the flat die hole diameter is 8mm, and the die hole length is 27mm. The compression molding test using a flat die pellet feed machine shows that the peanut straw pellet feed produced under this set of process parameters has a smooth surface, with molding rate up to 98.33%.