New technology enriches the soil
Print Edition
Straw left in the field after harvest is usually plowed back into the soil. But an agricultural technology demonstration fair in Jading’s Waigang Town is offering another possibility — to convert it into fodder.
In common practice, most straw is chopped up and dug back into the land to maintain soil fertility but only a small amount is turned into organic fertilizer.
“It helps to a certain extent, but too much straw piling up might obstruct mineralization, affect seedlings and cut down on production,” said Zhang Ping, director of Yuehong Machinery Co Ltd and a farmer for over 20 years.
Yuehong Machinery, together with Xinran Agriculture, Yigeng Agriculture and Xianying Biology, presented a solution of turning straw into fodder using microbial fermentation technology.
Straws are collected, crushed, rubbed and sprayed with microbial fermentation liquid and then packed for sale. The process takes only a few minutes.
Straws from rice and wheat are the best food for livestock, yet only 8 percent of these animals in China are fed such fodder, because it quickly goes bad. However, after using microbial fermentation technology, the straw will not deteriorate in two years.
Li Kaiming, Yigeng’s director, showed a sample made two years ago. It smelled clean and there was no sign of the mildew usually present when straw has been in storage for a long time.
“Each set of our machines can produce five tons of fodder a day, counting in eight hours of work time,” said Zhang. “This is only the speed at the fair. When we streamline the process and manufacture in large scale, we can move faster.”
Zhang calculated that each ton of fodder would make over 100 yuan (US$15) in profit.
The process can also get rid of the heavy metal and antibiotics in the straw and make the livestock healthier, Zhang added.
The technology is being supported by Shanghai Ocean University and Shanghai Institute of Technology. Product samples will be sent to a third party test institution to identify the nutritional content.
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