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Head of program: Dr. Jochen Mellmann
Department
3 - Post Harvest Technology
Grain is the main fruit and main source of income for
the farmers at the same time. This is the case for
market grain as well as for farmstead grain. To
guarantee product quality damages of the grain due to
the formation of mould and toxines as well as
under-drying and over-drying have to be avoided
consistently.
Hence, the reasons for it must be determined which may
be rooted in uneven drying or incorrect storage and
ventilation. The cultivation of special crops provides
alternative production and income possibilities to the
German agriculture. However, the steadily increasing
prices of fossil fuels endanger the competitiveness of
the own medicinal plant production compared with imports.
At present the drying costs already come to about 50% of
the total producing costs. Therefore measures for energy
saving keeping the quality of the worth giving
ingredients are in the focus. To guarantee product
quality and competitiveness as well as for energy
savings and reduction of environmental pollutions,
processes of drying, wet crushing, and storage of
agricultural goods are investigated.
The target is to optimize techniques which are already
approved in practice and to develop new energy saving,
gently, and environmentally friendly drying processes.
High quality
roughage conservation is an important prerequisite for
healthy cow feeding. In order to assure continuous and
balanced nutrient supply, the feeding of dairy cows
year-round is largely based on silage. By adding silage
supplements and by compaction the ensiling process can
be positively influenced. An online measurement system
for determining the degree of compaction is still
missing. Therefore, a measuring probe is being developed
and tested. For the ensiling process lactic acid as well
as acetic acid bacteria are necessary. Appropriate
strains are selected and tested for their potential to
be combined with other lactic-acid producing organisms.
Research
structure (overview)
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