I. Background of Fish Feed Extruder Thailand
Freshwater aquaculture in Thailand began in 1922 after the import of Chinese carp for culture around Bangkok. The most popular freshwater species in Thailand freshwater aquaculture are Nile tilapia and catfish. However the availability and high commercial fish feed cost have restrained the expansion of freshwater aquaculture. And launching low-cost fish feeds program to help fish farmers to make their own fish feed in community is an effective way to solve this problem. Fish feed extruder Thailand which is designed for Thailand fish farmers to make farm-made fish feed from local feed raw materials can help the development of low-cost fish feeds program. Fish feed extruder Thailand can be used to make nutritious aquatic feed pellets for tilapia, catfish, shrimps, etc and the size of fish feed pellets can be adjusted according to Thailand fish farmers’ need from 0.9mm to 12mm and both floating fish feed pellets and sinking fish feed pellets can be made by fish feed extruder.
● Main Feed Raw Materials in Thailand for Fish Feed Extruder
| Protein | Energy | ||
| Primary | Other sources | Primary | Other sources |
| Fish meal | Soybean meal, cottonseed meal, groundnut oil meal | Maize, rice, sorghum | Rice bran, tapioca, molasses |
II. Tilapia Feed Extruder Thailand
After shrimp, tilapia is likely to be the second most important aquaculture species in Thailand in the near future, an estimated 300,000 mt of tilapia are produced in Thailand annually. But the high feed cost and variable seed quality are challenges for the growth of tilapia farming in Thailand. Farmers need additional training on cost-effective farm management, especially the production of homemade feeds. Tilapia feed extruder can be a good choice for tilapia fish farmers to make homemade feeds. Here are some guidance for Thailand tilapia fish farmers to make farm-made tilapia fish feed pellets for different feeding habit and different growth stages.
● Nile Tilapia Feed Pellets Formula for Tilapia Fish Feed Extruder Thailand
The following table shows ingredient composition and proximate composition of commonly used feed pellet for different life stages of Nile tilapia in intensive farming system
| Ingredient composition (%) | Pre-starter | Starter | Grower | Finisher |
| Fish meal | 15.0 | 12.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 |
| Fish oil | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| Corn | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.1 | 14.9 |
| Rice bran | 0.0 | 24.6 | 35.0 | 35.0 |
| Wheat bran | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Cassava | 6.7 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 21.1 |
| Soybean meal | 62.4 | 38.5 | 27.3 | 0.8 |
| Limestone | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Dicalcium phosphate | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| Vitamin premix | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Mineral premix | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Proximate composition (%) | ||||
| Crude protein | 40 | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| Crude lipid | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Crude fiber | 3.5 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
● Nile Tilapia Feed Formulation in Thailand
The following table shows the feed ingredients composition and proximate composition of commonly used farm-made feed.
| Ingredient/proximate composition | Life stages/size class | |||
| Ingredient composition (%) | Early fry | Fingerling | Grower (in cage) | Grower (in pond) |
| Cassava starch | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cassava meal | 0 | 23 | 23 | 22 |
| Coconut meal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Rice bran | 30 | 15 | 20 | 0 |
| Soybean meal | 0 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
| Fish meal | 47 | 25 | 25 | 20 |
| Fish oil | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Dicalcium phosphate | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Vitamin and mineral premix | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Proximate composition (%) | ||||
| Dry matter | 8.3 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Crude protein | 30.0 | 31.0 | 30.0 | 29.9 |
| Crude lipid | 10.0 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 4.1 |
| Ash | 16.3 | 12.6 | 12.8 | 10.7 |
| Crude fiber | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 6.0 |
| NFE | 31.6 | 35.8 | 36.3 | 40.2 |
| Gross energy(kcal/kg feed) | 2,800 | 2,700 | 2,700 | 2,500 |
III. Catfish Feed Extruder Thailand
In Thailand, in order to lower catfish feed cost, some catfish farmers use chicken processing wastes like chicken bones, heads, and offal as main catfish feed ingredients. These chicken processing wastes are minced and mixed with rice bran, broken rice, or dry noodle waste and normally fed to catfish twice per day. However when water deteriorates and water exchange is not possible or in areas where chicken wastes are not available, floating catfish feed pellets made by fish feed extruder Thailand are the major catfish feed. Here are the common catfish feed formulas for fish feed extruder Thailand.
● Thailand Catfish Feed Formula
| Stage/size | Type | Size of feed | Protein
(min) |
Fat
(min) |
Fiber
(max) |
Moisture
(max) |
| Young catfish 4-15 days(size not over 3cm) | Powder | Grind 500 micron | 35% | 5% | 6% | 12% |
| Young catfish 16-30 days (size 3-5cm) | Flat/pellet | Dia. not over 2.5 mm | 35% | 4% | 6% | 12% |
| Small catfish 30-45 days (size>5cm) | Flat/pellet | Dia. not over 4.3 mm | 30% | 4% | 6% | 12% |
| Medium catfish 1.5-3 months of age | Flat/pellet | No diameter limit | 28% | 3% | 8% | 12% |
| Giant catfish over 3 months of age | Flat/pellet | No diameter limit | 24% | 3% | 8% | 12% |
● Nutrient specifications for least-cost formulation of a 28 percent protein feed
| Nutrient | Minimum | Maximum |
| Crude protein (%) | 28 | 28 |
| Crude fat (%) | – | 6 |
| Crude fiber (%) | – | 7 |
| Available lysine (%) | 1.43 | – |
| Available methionine and cystine (%) | 0.65 | – |
| Available phosphorus (%) | 0.30 | 0.40 |
| Digestible energy (kcal/g) | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Yellow pigments (ppm) | – | 7 |
● Ingredient compositions of catfish fingerling and food fish feeds
| Ingredient | 36% protein
fingerling |
32% protein
food fish |
32% protein
food fish |
32% protein
food fish |
28% protein
food fish |
28% protein
food fish |
28% protein
food fish |
| Soybean meal (48%) | 51.05 | 44.10 | 33.25 | 30.60 | 32.90 | 25.35 | 22.30 |
| Cotton seed meal (41%) | 10.00 | 10.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 | 10.00 | 20.00 | 20.00 |
| Porcine meat &bone meal (52%) | 10.00 | 5.00 | – | – | 5.00 | – | – |
| Corn grain | 20.00 | 20.00 | 18.21 | 15.00 | 25.00 | 20.00 | 15.00 |
| Wheat middlings | 5.50 | 18.20 | – | 10.82 | 24.32 | 11.08 | 24.10 |
| Corn gluten feed | – | – | 20.00 | – | – | 20.00 | – |
| DDGS (27%) | – | – | – | 15.00 | – | – | 15.00 |
| Dicalcium phosphate | 0.25 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Lysine HCI | – | – | 0.34 | 0.38 | 0.08 | 0.37 | 0.40 |
| Vitamin mix | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Trace mineral mix | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Animal fat/oil | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 |
IV. Fish Feed Pellet Making Processes by Fish Feed Extruder Thailand
Fish feed pellet making processes include feed raw material grinding process, ground feed ingredients mixing process and fish feed pellets extruding process, fish feed pellets drying process, and fish feed packing process. Fish feed pellet making equipment includes feed hammer mill, feed mixing machine, fish feed extruder machine, fish feed pellet dryer machine, fish feed pellet packaging machine. Fish farmers can choose the necessary fish feed pellet making equipment based on their estimate of cost.
♦ Feed raw material grinding process
If the size of feed raw material for making fish feed is larger than 0.5 mm, they should be crushed by feed hammer mill to reduce size.
♦ Feed mixing process
Aiming to make all the feed ingredients mix together evenly and making each fish feed pellets have uniform nutrient value, feed mixing machine is the key.
♦ Feed extruding process
After the above pre-processing, prepared raw materials are then fed to fish feed extruder which adopts extrusion technology to make extruded fish feed. Extrusion means to cook the mix of ingredients under temperature, moisture and pressure in the fish feed extruder. Moisture provides lubrication for compression and extrusion and in the presence of heat causes some gelatinization of raw starch present on the surface of vegetative ingredients, resulting in adhesion and the fish feed ingredients are extruded from the die mold. The size of fish feed can be adjusted.
♦ Fish feed pellets drying process
When finished fish feed pellets are discharged from the fish feed extruder, they are wet and hot, so they need to be dried under the sun or by the fish feed pellet drying machine for better drying effect to lower moisture content.
♦ Fish feed pellets packing process
In order to make feed pellets easy to store, transport and avoid moisture, fish feed pellets should be packed in bags. But if you make small quantity of feed pellets, this process is unnecessary, you can store the dry fish feed in your warehouse directly.
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