Fish Feed Making Machine Price Zambia

What is a fish feed machine?

Fish feed making machines are used to produce pellets from cereal, soybean, and other materials. The pellet will float on the water for at least 12 hours. Particularly for aquaculture industries such as fish, shrimp tortoise, and other aquatic products. You can vary the pellet diameter. 

The fish feed pellet machine can make many types of fodder for various animals. You can use it to make pet-fodder for poultry, fishery feed, and aquaculture fodder. The fish feed pellet machine can be used to pre-treat many types of fish feed to decrease loss of nutrition and increase the protein ratio.

Parameter

How much is fish feed in Zambia?

Fish Feed prices have fluctuated between k650 to k750 depending upon the brand.

Feed prices are dependent on the raw materials prices. We can only wait until the crop is harvested before we know how much feed will sell for.

Prices of fish feed began to rise at the beginning of 2021 as the price of raw material to manufacture the commodity rose. However, the prices remained stable from October 2021 through January 2022.

Interview with Money FM News: Organisation Secretary General Ferznarnd SIMFUKWE stated that the sector has seen no increase in prices for fish feed from October 2021 through January 2022.

According to Mr. Simfukwe, this has led to an increase in production of fish feed by aquaculture farmers.

However, he stated that the situation could change due to the anticipation of higher power tariffs.

Further, Mr. Simfukwe explained that prices could rise after March and April because these are the months when soya beans, the main crop used in manufacturing feed, will be harvested.

Structure of the feed extruder

1. Feeder: It is responsible for ensuring uniform and stable feed, and adjusting the feeding amount according to the current rating of the extrusion motor. It uses an electromagnetic speed motor or frequency convertor to control speed and adjust material feeding quantities. The spiral dragline feeds the extruded section to the outlet of the feeding feeder.

2. The extruding chamber consists of a screw and a barrel. A template, clamp, and a clamp are also included. Because the barrel and screw are piecewise combined, the compression level can be adjusted to suit the requirements of extruded food. This will allow for the feed to expand.

3. According to its function or position, the expansion mechanism can be divided into three segments:

Section for feeding: The screw pitch in this section is large. It mainly transports, compresses, and compresses materials. So the spiral groove is filled up with feed material. 

Section on compression: The slot of a screw runs along the material pushing in a compressive direction.

Section Extrusion: The screw groove is less shallow and pitch gradually becomes smaller. The extrusion pressure can reach up to 3.0-10Mpa. Temperatures can reach 120-150 degrees Celsius.

The template at the outlet of the extrusion section can be used as a template. It is possible to design the template into different shapes for different feeds. The atmosphere reacts to the extrusion of feed from die holes. It causes rapid expansion and rapid water evaporate dehydration, which solidifies the feed into pet food or fish feed.

What is Fish Feed Extrusion Process?

The commercial fish feed extrusion process is used to heat the feed ingredients under high temperatures, moisture, and high pressure. This is done by using a fish feed extruder. Extrusion is a technology that allows for the processing of a wide range of fish feed ingredients such as soybeans, corn, rice and other high-water content raw materials. The moisture content of raw materials can help to distinguish between two types of fish feed extrusion: dry and wet.

Dry type extrusion: In the process of extruding it takes heat from friction to warm materials. Materials are forced through die holes and get certain pressure under screw extrusion. The materials pressure will drop sharply after extrusion from the die hole. Additionally, moisture will evaporate to enable extrusion. The water content of the materials will remain between 15% and 20% throughout this entire process.

Wet type extrusion: This process is very similar to dry type extrusion. However, it must add water and vapor to increase the moisture level to at least 20%.

Principal ingredients for fish feed formulation & floating fish feed

Fish meal, fish oil and DORB are the main raw materials for floating fish feed. Major components of fish feed ingredients are starch, protein, fat, and crude fiber.

The quality of ingredients can have a huge impact on the final product texture, uniformity and extrudability as well as nutritional quality and economic viability. The extrusion cooking process can yield a wide variety of products if it is within certain limits established by a nutritionist. The dough is made from the floury or moistened granular materials during extrusion cooking of cereal grains and protein blends. The dough’s starchy components become gelatinous, which results in an increase in moisture absorption and a greater viscosity. As mentioned, few ingredients properties such as starch, protein and fiber play a significant role in the dough’s texture.

1. Starch:

It is used mainly for carbohydrates and important energy sources in livestock feed. Extrusion cooking causes starch to become soluble and absorb large amounts of water. The starch contributes to both expansion as well as binding of the final product. This is especially important for aquatic feed. A minimum of 20% starch is required for floating fish feed.

2. Protein:

Protein is the most costly component of fish feed. It is therefore important to determine the specific protein requirements for each species. The linkages between individual amino acids create proteins. There are more than 200 amino acid species in nature. However, there are only 20 common amino acids. 10 of these essential (indispensible) amino acids cannot be synthesized in fish. Fresh meat, poultry byproduct meal, fishmeal, meat and bone meals, blood meal, gelatin are the most common sources for animal protein.

Aquaculture feeds generally contain 30 to 35 percent protein for shrimp, 28-30 percent for catfish and 35-40 percent each for tilapia and hybrid striped bass. The levels for fish and other marine finfish are 40-45 percent. The protein requirements for plant-eating fish and herbivorous fish are generally lower than those for fish that are carnivorous. Fish raised in high-density systems, such as recirculating aquaculture, have higher protein requirements than fish raised in low-density cultures (e.g. ponds). Smaller fish require more protein than those at the beginning of their lives. Fish grow in size, so their protein needs decrease. The rearing environment, water quality and temperature, as well the genetic makeup and feeding rate of fish, all have an impact on protein requirements. Fish growth is possible only if there are adequate amounts of fats (energy) and carbohydrates in the diet. Proteins are made up of four elements: carbon (50%), nitrogen (16%), oxygen (21.5%) and hydrogen (6.5%). There are also other elements (6.0%).

3. Fats /Lipids:

Lipids (also known as fats) are high-energy nutrients which can be used to partially substitute for protein in aquaculture feeds. Lipids are twice as energy dense than carbohydrates and proteins. Lipids are a common component of fish diets at 7-15 percent. They supply essential fatty acid and transport fat-soluble vitamins. Tallow, poultry fats, vegetable oils and marine oils are all good sources of fat.

4. Fiber:

Most definitions of fiber in commercial animal feed rations refer to material that is not digested or absorbed by an animal, and which adds physical bulk to a ration. Commodities with high protein and low crude fiber, such as fishmeal or straw, have a higher economic value. Materials that are low in protein and high in fiber, like rice hulls and straw, have a lower economic value.

5. Minor ingredients:

Vitamins are a significant category of minor ingredients. Each vitamin exhibits a unique behavior during thermal processing. Some vitamins are also unstable when stored. Temperature, moisture, pressure, shear and temperature all affect vitamin stability during extrusion baking. Although extrusion has shown some losses, fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D and E are relatively stable, however, there have been 15 to 20% losses.

What equipment is required for fish feed production

Feed Crushing Machine

There are generally three types of crushing technology: collocation after grinding raw materials; grinding after ingredients mixture; and combination of both. It is important to understand the process of crushing aquaculture feed in order to produce high-quality aquafeed that meets the growing demands of aquatic life. Common crushing equipment include the fish feed hammermill and droplet fish feeder crusher. The first is usually used for rough grinding. However, it will need to be sifted during the crushing process to produce coarse grains for further milling. The latter is used for fine grinding of cellulose materials and high-moisture materials.

Fish Feed Mixer

It is important to pay attention to mixing techniques when making aquatic feed. It is important to produce high-quality mixing feed that contains uniform nutrition ingredients, as fish are likely to eat very little of it daily. Mixing uniformity can be affected by many factors including the raw materials, mixing time, and blending equipment.

Pelleting Equipment

There are generally two types of aquafeed extrusion machines: dry type fish food extruder and wet. These can be used to make floating, slow-sinking, and sinking aquatic feeds to meet the needs of different aqua animals. It is important to determine the water content of the feed raw materials before you decide on a dry or wet extruder. The wet machine is equipped with a boiler that can be used to add water or steam during the production process.

Drying/Cooling Equipment

It is essential to cool or dry aquafeed after pelleting and extruding for easy storage. A multilayer mesh belt dryer is available that can dry feed pellets. This drying machine has a circulation fan, heating device and fresh air suction. It can also be used to transfer pellets into chambers for heating to reduce the water content and temperature. After drying, aquafeed pellets must be cooled down before they can be used again.

Counter flow cooling theory suggests that pellets can be cooled to a temperature of about 85 Celsius, which is about 5 Celsius below the surrounding temperature. This will also reduce pellets’ water content to only about 18 percent. A good drying/cooling process can make fish feed more convenient to transport and store, which is a significant link in feed production.