Development of Ensiling Equipment for Mixing, Moisture Absorbing Materials into Raw Grass with High Moisture Content

Abstract

Ensiling equipment which reduces moisture content of grass was developed in order to process high moisture grass into high quality silage. The developed equipment consists of two conveyers and a device that measures the mass-flow rate of grass and adds moisture absorbing materials on grass. Moisture absorbing materials are added proportionally to the mass-flow rate of grass by using an ultrasonic distance sensor. Grass and added moisture absorbing materials are mixed continuously by using a double-shaft increasing pitch screw conveyer. The throughput and the power consumption of the developed equipment were 17.9t/h and 1.5kW, respectively. The Sudan grass silage processed by the developed equipment showed better fermentative quality and lower dry matter disappearance rate than the non-processed silage without wilting. The developed equipment was able to dispense with wilting work and process high quality silage in an underground square silo (about 50m³).