Key points
- Starch, fibre, fat and moisture jointly determine pellet durability.
- Thermal treatment reduces microbial load but can damage heat-sensitive nutrients.
- Pellet quality problems often originate in ingredient purchasing decisions.
Conditioning
Steam raises temperature and moisture before the die, gelatinising starch and improving binding. Insufficient conditioning gives weak pellets; excessive conditioning wastes energy and can damage sensitive nutrients and additives.
What ingredients do to durability
Starch-rich cereals bind well; high fat added before the die lubricates and weakens pellets; high fibre and high mineral content reduce durability. A formulation change made for cost reasons can show up immediately as increased fines.
Hygiene benefit and its limits
Thermal treatment reduces vegetative microbial contamination, but it does not eliminate heat-stable toxins such as mycotoxins. Processing is not a substitute for buying clean raw material.
What to verify
- Pellet durability monitored and correlated with formulation changes
- Conditioning temperature and retention time recorded
- Heat-sensitive additives dosed with process losses accounted for
Risks to manage
- High fines rate from an ingredient substitution made on price
- Nutrient or enzyme loss from over-conditioning
- Assuming heat treatment resolves contaminated raw material
Common mistakes
- Switching origin without checking pellet-quality impact
- Adding all fat before the die
- Relying on thermal processing to manage mycotoxin risk
Frequently asked questions
Can procurement influence pellet quality?
Directly. Ingredient choice, particle size, moisture and fat content are all purchasing-influenced variables that determine durability before any process setting is adjusted.
Does pelleting remove mycotoxins?
No. Mycotoxins are largely heat-stable, so contamination must be controlled through sourcing, testing and storage.
Related reading
Technical references
Industrial feed calculators
Other calculatorsFree planning tools for feed volume, water, airflow and heat load — with the assumptions shown, so you can defend the numbers internally.
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