Operating a large feed mill requires constant process control to ensure this high feed volume meets the bird requirement as close as possible. The advances of IoT (Internet of things) have exponentially increased the data processing speed and together with the development of rapid analysis technologies made possible real-time process control. In-line NIRS captures ingredient’s chemical composition with optical probes placed directly in the production lines. The collected data is used to adjust feed formulation and mitigates the effect of raw material variability on diet nutritional specification. SFT (Spatial Filtering technique) is another technology that has potential application in real time analysis for feed mills. It recognizes particle shape and therefore can be applied in particle size and pellet quality measurements. The investment in technologies is still high, but this issue has been overcome by larger-scale feed mills and consistent process control advantages.

The application of real-time process analytical technologies keeps the product quality uniform as well as may provide possible ways of optimizing the process.

Keysuke Muramatsu. K. and A. Santos. 2022. Rapid real time analytical methods for commodity ingredients and real-time implementation into commercial diets. Poultry Science Association 2022 Meeting, Abstract 489S.