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Mobile Feed Block Formation Machine
Crop production in the country has achieved
new feats. This has simultaneously led to increasing production
of crop residues, which is still considered a waste despite
their huge potential for utilization as feed, fuel and chemicals.
Currently, 540 million tonnes of crop residues are produced
in the country. An efficient and economical utilization of
these residues can have major impact on rural economy. However,
the major problem associated with these residues is their
low bulk density. Because of low bulk density these residues
require very large storage spaces. This creates a very serious
problem in transportation and handling. This is why the disposal
of these residues becomes a problem during the harvest season
and in several cases farmers prefer to burn them in the field
causing serious environmental pollution and loss of their
income, which could otherwise be made through their potential
uses.
To overcome the problems related with
the crop residues, the authors developed stationary animal
feed block formation machine, which was considered to be a
revolutionary step towards better management of crop residues.
The machines was found to be highly useful for densification
of crop-based residues, especially for manufacture of crop
residue based complete diet for animals. Crop residues could
profitably be used as animal feed by mixing with diet supplements
like concentrates, molasses, mineral mixtures, etc and densifying
the mixture into block form. The process was advocated as
eco-friendly. In this process, not only harmful gases are
prevented from entering into environment as in case of burning
but also soil friendly dung and urine are returned to the
environment through animal system. However, this machine was
found to have some limitations that the residues needed to
be transported from field to the machine. Hence, in hilly
regions, this machine was not found suitable. To suit the
needs of hilly regions, a mobile feed block formation machine
was developed.
The mobile machine consists of two hydraulic
cylinders, power pack and body. Arrangements for hand-operated
levers are made in the machine to operate the hydraulic cylinders
manually. The machine is mounted on a four-wheel trolley of
3m X 1.5m size having pneumatic wheels of 8X20". The
machine is operated by 6.5 hp air-cooled diesel engine. This
machine could be used in different locations and situations.
The size of feed block is (15 X 15cm) in cross section and
of varying thickness. The feed block weight varies from 0.5
to 2.5 kg. The cost of feed block formation works out to Rs
600/tonne.
The advantages of machine are:
Acknowledgements
The authors offer a grateful thanks to
the National Agriculture Technology Project (ICAR) for providing
financial assistance to develop the machine.
Source:
Invention Intelligence, May - June 2006
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