This publication from the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
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Bulletin 356
February, 1953
· UBRARY
\.c'?:oC
This publication from the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
has been archived. Current information is available from http://www.ksre.ksu.edu.
GRICUIJTURAL EXPERIMENT ST ATION
JUANHATTAN.• KANSAS
STATE BOARD OF REGENTS
WALTERS. FEEs, Chairman, Iola
UGHEY............Concordia
DREW McLAUGHLIN
........... ..... ..Paola
.,~,,_,,, ..,," •'··· ..............Wichita
GROVER PooLE..
. ..Manhattan
·~.:, ............... ...... .....Hutchinson
L. B. SPAKE.
. ..... .. .Kansas City
......... Garden City
O sCAR S. STAUl"FER ..... ........... ..... ...Topeka
HUBERT BRIGHTON, Secretary
Eo BuRGE, Busi11ess j\fanager, Concordia
ADliiNISTRATION
.. . ... President of the College
.Director of the Station
.......... Associate Directo r
......... ..... ..... ...... ... ..... .. ...Assistant Director
.... Comptroller
M<>N'T"''Mnv..... ... .... . . ..... ... ... .. ...... .....Agricultural
Economics
..... Agricult ural Engineering
.............Agronomy
.. ... ...Animal H usbandry
.... ...Bacteriology
..... ....Botany
..C hemistry
..Chemical Engineering
..Dairy H usbandry
.,., ....Entomology
: ....... H ome Economics
......... ... .....
.. . . Hor ticulture
.. .. ......... ........
.Milling Industries
.... ..... . .. .... .............. Physics
. Poul try Husbandry
.. ....Veterinary Medicine
........ Zoology
Statistician
. Editor
OF BRANCH STATIONS
A. B. ERHART.....
T. B. STINSON .:
F. E. D AVIOSON .
......Garden City
...Tribune
..Mound Valley
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DEHYDRATED ALFALFA'
'.rABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .......... .............................................
HISTORI CAL
ALFALFA F'O~·~;~;~~~;~~·~··························· ··············· · ··············· .·.·
Alfalfa Breeding .................. .... ·· ........................... .......................... , .
Cutting Alfalfa
.... ........ .... ........................... ............. ..
Soil Treatment .::::::::::::::::::::::::............................. ........................... . ·
······························
ME~HODS OF PRODUCTION
Field Equip
t
··························· ·························
Dehydrators~~~ ... ::::::::::::::::::::::········ ···························
············ .. ········: ··
Automatic Feeding Equipment ...........................
........................... . ..
Ma~n~enance of Feeding Value· ........................... ...................... .
Eff1c1ency of Dehydration ........:················: ........................... ........... .
Special Equipment .........
. ........................... .................... .
Cost of Production
.... ........................... ....................... ...... .
ENGINEERING RESE~~~~ ....... ..... ........................... ........... .
Retention of Carotene
· · · · · · ........ · · · · · · · · · · · · · ........... · · .. · ........... · ...... .
Fractionation of Dehyd;~t~·d·Air~if'~...... .. . ......... ....... ......................... :
Drum Rotation Rate .................
.. ........................... ................... .
Pneumatic Type Alfalfa Drier .................... .. ........................... ........ .
~~~!~~::~i:~ ~~:~lt~············· ...::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::·
··••·
Storage of Dehydrated.Aif~i·t~ ........................... ........................... ..... ·
Fire Hazards ........................... .' ....... ·· · · · · · · · · · .. · ........ · · · · · · · · · · · ........... · · · ·" ·
STABILIZATI ON OF CAROTEN~........................... ......................... ..
N ature of Carotene Destruction ........................... ................ ..
Storage Temperature
........................... ............ ........... .
Inert .A.tmospheres .... ~~~~~::~~:~~::············ .. ·························
Moisture Content of Meal
.................. ........................... ...... :.. ..
Pelleting ...... .. ................... ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::·............ ................
Antioxida nts .................... ..
Addition of Feed Ingredieu't~.. :: ........................... .......................... .
COMPOSITION OF ALFALFA
........................... ....................... ..
Major Constituents .............. ~:::::·········· ······················ · ···· ············· · · .·
~[~!?}:~:::':~~:::;,~~~;.
:::
:.
UTIL_IZATIO;;··~;·~~~;~-~~;~·~-·~~;~~;~........................... ...... · .·•
Ch1cken Ratio
................. · .............
Turkey Ration~s ........................... ........................... .................... .
Swine Productio~ ··:::::::: · ........................... ........................... ......... .
Lamb Production ...... ... :~ :~ ~~~~~~:::: ........................... ........................ ·.·.
Other Feed Uses .......................... ......... ..................... .................... .···
Industrial Utilization
........................... .......................... .
ANALYTICAL PROBLEJ~~ ........................... ........................... .......... .
Determination of Carotene........................... ........................... .......... :
Detection of Sun-cured Alf~lf~.. i~"i:)·~h;d.;~t~d: ...Air~if~ ................ •·
ACKNOWLEDG MENT
.................................................. .............. ,: ..
LITERA.T\mE CITED
·····································································
H. L. Mitchell, Ralph E. Silker, C. 0. Grandfield,
. H. Honstead, and R . G. Taecker2
INTRODUCTI ON
occupies a favorable position with respect to
of d ehydrated alfalfa the Kansas IndusCommission felt a resear ch program devoted
of this industry would be of value to the state.
such a program was initiated, and although this
•···· attempt to survey alfalfa and alfalfa dehydration
· • there are numerous references to the r esearch
sponsored by the Kansas Industrial Development
"'".''n'·'"'" are also engaged in similar r esearch. Among
uu:G<~.L!uns are the Agricultural Experiment Stations
the United States Department of Agriculture,
e Western Regional Research Laboratory, Aland t he various commercial firms which use
American Dehydrators Association also has
r esearch iii t his field and they, through their
are financing and sponsoring projects of direct
HISTORICAL
feed material has been known for cenrds of alfalfa production date back to
gr own at that time in what is now the
. The Greeks and Romans also were faand its value as a feed. Cato (B.C. 234-149)
·•"De Agricultura" as a means of improving
· · .. 0 A.D. Columella wrote of its usefulness for
soil, its perennial nature, and m ethods of
( 48) has written a history of alfalfa, and
) has given a r eview of its history, bring•·
tion to the United States. The name
·..· originated in the Arabian language and
"best fodder" or " h orse fodder." The
. is used commonly in Europe for alfalfa ,
· from the fact that in its early history in
'•<J,Lua.,un.,
o f Chem i s t ry ; No. 46 8, Depar tme nt of
o f Ch emi cal E n ginee r i ng.
· ass o ciat e p r ofessor, Depa r t m e n t of
U"lnar <m,An r. of Ch e m is try; a g ro nomist, D iv i. R e s . Adm. U.S.D.A . ; associate p r oo.I•·::..vrlenuc:"'' ..,.mc·m'""·,ng ; and associa te profe s sor, D o-
' respectively.
7.5M-2 -5 3
(5)
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6
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
DEHYDRAT ED ALF'ALF'A
Europe it was cultivated and grew well in the Lake ""'~''"'"'' ..,
area in Switzerland .
A!falfa probab~y w.as introduced in Greece during the
doman and Persian mvasions. From Greece alfalfa
Italy and Africa. The Arabians also carried the plant to
a:nd from there it. traveled to Mexico, Peru, and Chile.
likely that its arrival on the west coast of the United
was brought ·about by the gold seekers enroute to
by way of Cape Horn and South America.
. George W~shington and Thomas Jefferson both grew
m the colomal period ( 4), according to reports.
From the standpoint of alfalfa production in the
States two important importation s were the introductio n of
Chilean variety in California in 1850 during the Gold Rush
the introductio n into Minnesota in 1857 of alfalfa brought
Baden, Germany, by Wendell Grimm. Alfalfa grew so well
the California valleys that it became known as 'u"'""J'
Clover."
Alfalfa supplies one-third of the hay crop of the
States and is the leading forage crop in Kansas. Most of
alfalfa is grown in the Midwest and Far West. Six mid
states including Kansas each have over a million acres.
Kansas the acreage has increased steadily since 1938 to
present figure of 1,026,000 acres (Fig. 1) . The increase in
ALFALFA ACR&A5~
KANSAS
l'XlO
1200
IN
llOO
~
~
~
0
~
~
~
0
~
~
]0
~
Fig. 1.-Alfalfa acreage in Kansa s.
use of alfalfa for commercial purposes has contributed to
~rowt~, since dehydrated alfalfa and alfalfa meal are imp
1ngred1ents of many mixed feeds.
··
· Alfalfa first came int o Kansas from the west in the
1860's and early '70's. It was first mentioned in the Report
7
. Kansas State Board of Agriculture in 1877, and in 1882
Agricultura l Ex1Jerimen t Station recommend ed the
of alfalfa. Alfalfa was not readily accepted by farmers;
stock wouldn 't eat it, and not until about 1900
a lfalfa acreage make much increase. At that time there
· about 300,000 acres. Up to 1900 alfalfa was more or less
experiment al stage and no one could tell the farmers
obtain stands or how to make good hay. Seed was scarce
home-grow n seed was available. During this early
alfalfa itself was becoming acclimated to Kansas conAfter several generations of production t he survival
best plants · began to assert itself in Kansas alfalfa and
. strain became known as Kansas Common. Kansas Com-·
established itself as a variety, and in the past had as wide
of adaptation as any single variety grown in the
States. It established a reputation for Kansas-gro wn
seed throughout the eastern part of the United ~t.a~es.
o alfalfa, a new variety developed by the Divlswn
Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant In.dustry,
Ao-ricultura l Engineerin g, United States Department
o
a nd the Kansas Agricultura l Experimen t Stahas all the qualificatio ns of Kansas Common plus
e to bacterial wilt Corynebacw rium insidlosum, will
nrllr,..llrV replace Kansas Common in its adapted area.
a the period between 1900 and 1915, alfalfa acreage in
increased by one million acres. This rapid growth
ted the use of unadapted seed to supply the demand,
during the last two years of the period. Because of
was an immediate reaction and the acreage decreased
for the next two years. During the next 20 years the
fluctuated but on the whole decreased by almost a
a cres. This decline was due to diseases such as bac. • wilt and to economic factors brought about by demands
·
grain. During the next 10-year p eriod, up to 1950,
· was a gradual increase in the alfalfa acreage to the presof over one million acres. This increase in acreage
to improved varieties, improved methods of handling,
increase in the commercial demand for alfalfa meal.
with a production of over 38lj2 million tons annually
·is harvested primarily as sun-cured hay. Within rehowever the artificial drying of alfalfa has develinto an important commercia l method of processing. A
.•. niform product of higher nutritional quality results.
··...
Otto Weiss of Wichita, Kansas, first put ground al'
m ixed f eeds. This marked the beginning
....."'"'·"'milling industry. Shortly thereafter, M. E. P~ters
Nebraska, mixed ground . a lfalfa and molasses m a
: These feeds met popular favor and resulted in an in··'"''"'"'~"'"
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8
KANSAS BULLETI N 3 56
DEHYDR ATED ALF ALFA
creased use of alfalfa in mixed feeds. The industry ,
received demands for a uniform product, with color being
portant. As a res ult, artificia l drying was attempte d in
to meet this new demand. In 1931 the first dehydra tor
of the Mississi ppi a nd probably the second of commer cial
in the United States was con structed . By 1937 the United
Depart ment of Agricult ure recogniz ed the growth of the
hydratio n industry and publishe d a circular describi ng
ment used in t he industry (32) . Since that time the
dehydra tion industry grew r apidly with an a ccelerate d
in the early and middle 1940's. Kansas now has 86 units
ducing some 180,000 tons of meal annually valued at over
000,000. Thus this industry , develope d in the Middle West
the last 20 years, has added greatly to the demand for the
uct and provided employm ent for 1200 to 1500 people in
state.
Product ion of dehydra ted alfalfa in the United States n
exceeds 717,000 tons per year (102). Figure 2, which is
to that presente d by Chrisma n (21) in his excellent r eview
1000
..
.-..
..,..
.
"'
c:
0
,',.o___ /
--~,
0
_o...... "'
- _. ... -
0
/
.:
0
',
',
',-o____
Sun-cured
--0-
~-
0
---o ....
..c
--
9
to stabilize as a new and valuable indust ry, prov idanoth er outlet for an importa nt farm crop.
problem s associat ed with the growth of such a n ew inare many. Such factors as equipment, efficient operahigh qua lity products , uniform products , packagi_ng,
.
promoti ons, etc., are much more numerou s and subJect
fluctuat ion and change than in an establish ed industry .
AJ.~F ALF A
FOR DEHYD RATION
Alfalfa Breedin g
:·AJIL<:t.u a breedino - in the past has been limited
largely to the
in prod;cti on of the plant itself as hay or to seed
T his has been accompl ished by obtainin g resistan ce,
breeding t echnique s, to some of the diseases o_f alfalfa
the selection of plants that have the mheren t
t o produce more hay or seed than others. T h rough alseveral n ew varietie s have been develope d. The
ost importan t of these are Buffalo and Ranger, both of
h ave a high degree of bacteria l wilt resistance. Buffalo
as previous ly mention ed, was develope d at the Kansas
al E xperime nt Station by selection and close breedplants selected from an old line of Kansas Common ,
to have been "TOWn in Kansas since 1907. Selected
s showing resista~ce to wilt were grown under isolat~on
to intercro ss, and wer e then reselecte d, resultm g
we n ow kno·,v as Buffa.lc. Tests have shown Buffalo
to yield as m uch hay as Kansas Common as long as the
are comD'.'.rable, but over a period of years it surpassed
Commo-n because o:: the loss of stands in the Common ,
to wilt (Table 1).
1.-Comr a rc~tive Sta n ds of Alfalfa, After Four Years on W iltSoil, Manhatta n, Kansas.
PP.rcent ?.ge Stancl
o rigina l
final
................ ................ ............
95
95
100
25
Year
···················-············ ················ ················
98
12
Fig. 2.-Produ ction of alfalfa meal in t he United States.
a Ccmmon ................ ................ .... ........
98
20
................ ................ ................
98
6
dehydra ted alfalfa producti on, illustrat es the growth of
dehydra tion industry since 1943. Most of t h e meal is used
chicken ration s, but m ore and more of it is finding its way
cattle feed, hog rations, sheep feed, a nd turkey mash.
formula feed industry is now using large quantiti es and it
r esults from other states have shown Buffa lo
as m uch hay as other varieties common ly grow n in
and to maintai n stands longer.
2 presen ts data from a test conducte d at Davis, Cali-
rr
~:::.::
i!'
--1!!!!!!!!!!!-- --- --- --- ---
·...,·
···""!0!
··. 111!!1!'!-!\1'!!
.•..•!1!!'
.•..!!!.
·····-
·- - ·- - -- - - _ j
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10
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
fornia, which clearly indicates the ability of Buffalo
tain its stands longer and to make good yields at the
TABLE 2.-Comparative Stands of Buffal o Alfalfa After
California Agricultural Experiment Station, Davis,
V a r;iety
ntage Stand
final
0
Buffalo ......................... .
fl2
87
Kansas Common ......... .
90
32
California Common ..... .
95
42
Buffalo alfalfa is purple flowered, erect in its
growth, and rather quick to recover growth in the sp
after cutting.
.
Buffalo alfalfa is more resistant to the leaf and st · ··
eases common to this area than Kansas Common
·
and for this reason produces a higher quality
periods of weather favorable to the growth and
of the diseases. Some dehydrator operators have
the high carotene content of the Buffalo alfalfa
processed. Most of the nutrients in alfalfa are in the
therefore any variety containing a high percentao-e
will be higher in the nutritive elements than the o
may drop their leaves before being harvested.
The range of adaptation of Buffalo alfalfa is limited
north to the northern boundary of Kamoas by its
cold resistance, and in the south it is limited in the
wilt is not a factor by Hs abllity to comnete with
strain_s oi common alfalfas in hay-yielding ability.
speakmg, Buffalo a1falfa can be grown St'ccessfully
United States between the 31st and 43rd parallels.
where Buffalo is best adapted will be bounded on the n
the 40° parallel extending west to the Utah State line
diagonally up to the Puget Sound area. The southern
of its area of adaptation will extend south to the 31 o
then west to Texas and slightly north and west to
coast, eliminat ing the tropical areas of Arizona and
and the eastern coastal area. In all the area west of
sas line Buffalo will be in competition with high-yieldi
wilt-resistant, local strains in the south, and Ranger,
resistant variety, in the north. Buffalo w ill be used · ·
north as the 43 o parallel in the north centra l a:ad east,
ing west to the Wyoming line. In this area Buffalo
used for pasture mixtures and in short rotations
recovery is desired in the spring and after cutting,
a _heavier late fall growth may be obtained, than can
tamed from Ranger or other northern varieties.
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
11
is a synthetic alfalfa as described by Tysdal
through the co-operative efforts of the NeExperiment Station and the Division of
Diseases, United States Department of Agwas synthesized fro m five selections. In
istics it exhibits considerable variabilof growth and flower color. It is distinctly
color. Ranger has more cold resistance
ore its range of adaptation is further north.
has proved to be one of the high-yielding
slightly below Buffalo. It is highly wiltsusceptible to the leaf and stem diseases
breeding in the past has been to increase
and resistance to alfalfa diseases. Inciwork has resulted in the increase of the
t. Enough research has been done to show
to increase t he quality of alfalfa by increassome of the feed elements in fresh alfalfa.
· been done at this s tation on carotene (pros indicated t hat carotene content in alfalfa
ble factors. It is reasonable to believe
differences in alfalfa plants in the
elements as well as other biologically active
and Tysdal ( 44) obtained strains and hi. . considered to differ inherently in carotene
· variations shown by the progeny were condetrimental to carotene content were held
t ( 41) found differences in t otal caro~+'~'AA" strain and clones of alfalfa and obcorrelation between carotene cont en t of
··.·and of their maternal parent s. He concluded
•... ·
in alfalfa is inherited. Brackney (15)
· · evidence and concluded that the inherita n ce
· · t in alfalfa rests on complex interaction be.. and heritable factors within the plant.
CUTTING ALFALFA
t ed, alfalfa is a multiple crop. The best
for one of the products for which a l . ·.. not be the best for another. Grandfield {34)
lfalfa stands have been ruined because of
t<t-LuJco::LJts, and described time of c.utting
stands, to increase hay yields, and to
all of which are di '~erent in some detail.
se quality, may be added.
with Alfalfa. The imnortant fact or in
is to k eep a plant healthy and v igorous.
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12
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
13
DEHYDRATED A LFALFA
This can be done by allowing the plant time 1~etween
to accumulate plant food in the roots. This will make
more vigorous growth and higher cold resistance. The c
period is the fall season, and it is necessary to plan the
cuttings in order to allow the fall top growth to supply
roots with plant food for winter protection (Fig. 3). .
to the full bloom stage. This may n ot be the best manpractice to maintain stands or to produce high quality
If a seed crop is desired it is necessary that the grower
early in the season and cut the alfalfa accordingly.
,Increase Quality. Table 3 illustrates when to cut ~~ obta in
quality hay. This holds true with ot her nutntive .ele3.-Effeet of Stage of Maturity of Alfal fa on Yield of Hay, PerLeaves and Protein, and Total Protein Produced Per Acre (Aver.. 8 years).
40
Leaves
TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES
in hay
Tons
w
"
:!
z
Pounds
960
2.427
53.4
2.931
51.1
18.92
1,109
..........................
3.037
48.4
17. 63
1,071
...........................
2.647
41.6
16. 04
849
0
"'"' 15
Percent
19.78
···························
..,
Percen t
0.
~~-22-;9-~18~10~-~6--~J0~-~28~--~I~I-2=8~----~,_~a----------~----_j
'
OATE
OF
2•27
SAMPLING
Fig. 3.-Trend of plant food reserves in alfalfa roots plotted as
tions from the mean.
'
In this area the best management practice for hay
tion is to make the first and second cuttings in the early sta
of growth, then regulate the third and fourth to allow
cient top growth to dev.elop on the plants after the last
to build up food reserve in the roots for winter protection.
To Increase Hay Yields. If tonnage is all that is desired,
hay should be allowed to reach the mature stage before
The quality of the product will be lowered and the timinothe fall growth disregarded, thereby shortening the life
s tand.
Table 3 illustrates what happens to hay yields and hav
ity when alfalfa is cut at different stages of growth.
change in quality is primarily due to the loss of leaves as
plant matures, even though the tons per acre increase up
the full bloom stage.
To Increase Seed Yield. To produce a seed crop the rec
mended practice is to allow the crop previous to the seed
ot ·.
alfalfa as well as with proteins. Hauge ( 46) report ed
alfalfa was higher in vitamin A potency than was
the bloom stage. Meenen (61) has shown that t he
content of a lea f is continually being built up until
period of the plant. He found more carotene in
older plants than he did in young material and c ont the loss of total carotenoid content of the plant as
was probably due t o the loss of leaves. Any factor
·""''"'"<'" a chlorosis of the plant leaf will reduce its caroSome of the factors that cause alfalfa plants to
leaves prematurely in Kansas are leaf and stem
such as leaf spot, Pseudopeziza medicaginis, leaf
eudopeziza medicaginis Ionesii, alfalfa rust, Ul'omyces
black stem, Ascochyta imperfecti Pech ; leaf~·.· ..J.,,....vcephalns, low soil fertility, drought, etc.
of all commercial processors of a lfalfa is to
in the early stages of growth. This assures them
qu.tlity product, because of the high percentage of
recommended practice for cuttin g alfalfa for qualin the bud stage. However, if this practice is conthe season the plants will be weakened and
to diseases and winter killing, thereby reducing
· · The dehydrator must be assured of a st eady flow
the plant over the entire season for efficient operait necessary to start on some fields earlier in
.··. than recommended as t h e best cutting practice.
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14
KANS AS BULL ETIN 3 56
DEHY DRATE D ALFA LFA
This ·may be comp ensat ed for parti ally by allow
to go to later stage s of grow th later in the seasoing t hese
n
The conc lusio n that may be draw n from the .
cutti ng pract ice is that the produ cer must
e the purpo .
for whic h he is growing alfal fa and use the decid
recom mend ed
ting pract ice that will giv e him the great est
retur ns in
gevit y of stand , tons of hay, bus hels of seed,
or quali ty
produ ct.
Soil Trea tmen t
To grow alfal fa succe ssful ly the soil must be
well supp li
with the nece ssary plan t food elem ents, lime,
phos
phor us,
potas sium . Lime and phos phor us are lacki ng
in
much
of
easte rn half of Kans as, and potas sium only
in th e
south easte rn part.
TABL E 4.-Ef fect of Fertil izer on Alfalf a
Hay Yields on South east
Exper iment Fields .
Avera ge y ield, ai r - dry h ay,
tons p e r acr e
Thaye r
4 - year
a verage
Moran
17 -year
averag e
rules whic h inclu de a definition of dehy drate d
alfalf a.
·. inclu de, essen tially, that the prod uct be dried
rapid ly
.. ~~··~~· ~4 mean s at a temp eratu re
a bove 212 ° F . and t hat no
alfal fa be mixe d in the produ ct.
t is quite expe nsive and must inclu de,
. dehy drato r prope r, field equip ment, t rucksin addit ion
, traile rs,
hamm er mills , sack-ing equip ment, and a repai
space is desir able and locat ions near railroad r shop .
erred . Most units in Kans as opera te on natu sidin gs
ral gas
· elect ricity for moto r-driv en equip ment ; there
fore these
of powe r must be avail able.
Field Equi pmen t
· equi pmen t may vary consi derab ly, from mow
ers
self-p ropel led cutte rs, chop pers, and tr ailer comb and
inat can make field oper ation a one-m an job.
such as that show n in Figu res 4 and 5 is owne
d
Colum b u s
16 -year
aver a ge 3
No treatm ent ........ ......... ......... ..
1.27
.90
.58
.Lime .................. ........ .......... ......
1.13
1.56
1.95
Manu re ......... ......... ......... ......... ..
1.57
1.65
Lima and superp hosphate ........
Lime, manu re, a nd super pho3p hate ......... ......... ......... ...
Lime, pota3 h, and super1)hOo phate ......... ......... ......... ...
2.29
2.44
2 .3 1
2. 9 8
2.7 8
2.87
2.00
The data in Tabl e 4 are f rom experime nts
Sout heast Kans as Expe rime nt Field s. The
respo nse
and phos phate was good. Any treat ment that
will i
the hay yield will also incre ase the yield of
the
nutri
ti
ment s if alfal fa is cu t at the prop er time.
·
METHODSOFPRODUCfiONOF
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
Dehy drate d alfal fa varie s consi derab ly in quali
ty,
it is almo st alwa ys of much high er quali ty than
falfa .
Attem pts are being made to stand ardiz e dehy
The Ame rican Dehy drato rs' Asso ciatio n (5) hasdrate d
devis ed
15
from one field to anoth er. Thus
the fresh alfal fa to sellin g
~,..•. ~.~ ~· the contr ol of the plan t
owne r.
as close to the dehy drati ng unit
·v :''··• ·v.~• ~~-"' trans porta tion costs , They
sel.
for alfal fa, and prefe r t o stay
· .• unit requi r es abou t 1000 acres of aleffic iently durin g a norm al seaso n.
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16
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
KANSAS BU LLETIN 3 56
Fig. 5.-Self-propelle d field harvesting equipment.
Bert and Wetta, Maize, Kansas.
Drum. The H oward type of drier uses a single rodrum with baffles arranged along the inner surface. The
serve to keep the alfalfa falling through the stream of
air and combustion gases passing through the drum. The
chopped alfalfa enters one end of the drum and is dried .
conten,t of 4 to 8 percent in a single pass through
Figure 6 shows a unit of this type.
temperature in the drum varies from about 1500° F. at
inlet end of the drum to about 250° F . at the exit end. In
the high initial temperature very little alfalfa is burned
drying if a proper balance is maintained between the
ture and the feeding rate. The alfalfa passes through
and is dried in 5 to 8 minutes. The gas is burned in
third of the drum in this type of unit. More recently,
, a short firing tube has been used on the front of the
It is claimed that more efficient firing is thus obtained
that closer control of the temperature in the drum can be
Dehydrators
There are several different types of dehydrator~ in use.
few low t emperature units are in use, but most umts. a re
temperature units of rotating drum t ype :o~str~ct10n.
rotary drum driers are usually 10 to 12 feec m d1ameter
approximately 30 feet long. Two genera~ types of rotary.
driers are in use. Gas is the usual fuel m Kansas, but 011
be used and coal h as been used in one or two instances.
Drum. The Heil dehydrator is similar in outside
to the Howard. Its inner construction, however,
of three concentric drums with different drying con-
.
Fig. 6.- Howard-type dehydrating unit.
Manhatta n , Kans:<\s.
17
the three compartments . The fresh material enters
· . which is at the highest temperature. The alfalfa then
successive stages into the second and third drums,
maintained at lower temperatures. Figure ·7 repreconstruction of the multiple dr um dehydrator and
.· shows a regular installation of this type. An auxiliary
· ·or firing tube is used with this type of dehydrator.
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.18
KANSAS BULLETIN 358
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
19
proper feed rate. In any case, the use of 'aut omatic
has eliminated the need for manual labor in the feedt ion, and a more uniform meal is produced. Figures
10 illustrate typical aut omatic feeding equipment .
Fig. 8.-Double unit installation of Heil-type dehydrator.>.
tesy of the Arnold Dryer Co., Milwaukee, Wis.
Automatic Feeding Equipment
One of the critical points in producing a good quality,
form product is the maintenance of proper balance be
feed rate and temperature. Until recently this operation
performed manually, with the workers adjusting the feed
according to the temperature in the dehydration drum.
Within recent years several automatic feed devices
been manufactured and most operators now use some type
automatic feeder. Some of these units are regulated a-u~v_........,
cally according to drum temperature. Others run at a
constant rate, which may be varied slightly by a manual c
trol, in which case the operator has the responsibility for
0.-Automatic f eeder at Cozad, Nebrask a . Courtesy, The W.
o. , Neodesha, Kansa3, Division Archer-Daniel3-Midland· Co.
1\Iaintenance of l'eeding· Value
Fig. 9.- Automatic fee der a t the National Alfal fa Dehydrating a nd
ing Company, Lamar, Colorado.
produce a good quality dehydrated alfalfa it is
to have a good quality raw material. However, good
be damaged by I>Dor handling and dehydrat ion.
attempt to dry the alfalfa as soon after <;utting
e, since dest ruction of nutrients in the alfalfa, parcaroten e, begins as soon as the alfalfa is cut. Silker
(92) in a study on carotene l osses showed that the
otene from fresh chopped alfalfa was most rapid
after chopping, but amounted to less than 3 perhour over a period of severa l hours. The average
t ime between cutting the alfalfa and feeding it into
will be less than one hour under g ood managebreakdown in equipment may account for a l onger
on rare occasions.
carotene content of the dehydrated alfalfa is a lso af-
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KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
20
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
21
by the operation of the dehydrating unit. Silker and
(92) have shown that the losses in the dehydrator vary
, but may be held to a relatively low value of 5 to
··.percent.
a further study losses of carotene during dehydration in
of units located in the Kansas river valley were ined. These data were taken a long with engineering data
measured the efficiency of operation of the units. Caroses ranged from 5.7 to 21.5 percent. The data are prein Table 5 and substantiate those obtained in the other
mentioned;
Efficiency of Dehydration
'""' "'
......
.,...
e engineering data obtained included (a) pounds of green
per hour; (b) pounds of dry meal per hour; (c) pounds
air passing through the drum per minute, and (d) fuel
per hour. From these data the rat e of evaporamoisture and the amount of water removed p,er unit
consumed could be calculated. The carotene content
dehydrated meal as compared with the fresh material
. also obtained. Table 6 presents the engineering data on
units.
capacity of each unit is best measured by t he rate of
. ... removal. As shown in the table, the capacity ranged
···. 7,675 pounds per hour to 4,860 pounds per hour.
efficiency of each unit is best measured by the ratio of
of gas consumption to the rate of evaporation of water.
t he latent heat of water is 970 B.T.U. per pound and the
value of natural gas is approximately 1000 B.T.U. per
cubic foot, 100 percent efficiency is very close to a
tion of one cubic foot of gas per pound of water evapos ratio actually varied from 1.155 to 1.98, i ndicating
te efficiencies from 50 to 85 percent. This neglects
small heat quantities such as the sensible heat in the
and air leaving the dehydrator, and the sensible heat in
alfalfa, but it is still a good relative index of t he therof the process.
Special Equipment
are some pieces of equipment used in processing and
dehydrated alfalfa which, although not of universal
are of considerable interest. Included are such
blending equipment, pelleting machines, automatic
equipment, automatic sacking equipment, loading
ers for cooling alfalfa meal before sacking, spray
for adding oil to dehydrated alfalfa, shredders for
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22
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
23
stems before dehydration, and numerous other
0
00
"'
00
....
0
0
r;--
"'
0
"'
..,.
0
0
ending equipment is frequently used to combine various
of alfalfa meal to meet certain specific·ations. This type
~·,-~.~~t is quite common, especially where t he operator
sufficient meal t o warrant such operat ions; high
lower grade meal can then be mixed in the correct
to meet the requirements of the buyer. Many types
are in use. Typical of this kind of equipment is
own in Figure 11.
..,.
0
,..;
0
>.0
0
00
operators are using equipment to cool alfalf.a meal
sacking. The meal will average 20 to 30 degrees F. highatmospheric temperature as it leaves the hammer mill.
l oss of carotene caused by the higher t emperabe reduced by coo!ing. Several different types of cool-
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24
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
ing units are available commercially, and in some cases p
operators have designed their own coolers. One
of a cooling device is shown in Figure 12.
Fig. 12.-Alfalfa meal cooling equipment.
Caple Co., Toledo, Ohio.
Another device commercially available is a shredder
crushes and tears up the stemmy portion of the alfalfa
diately before it enters the dehydrating unit. This device
said to make dehydration of the alfalfa more uniform and
quire less heat because of the relative ease of drying
crushed stems as compared to whole stems. It is claimed
better quality meal results from such operations. The
construction of such a crusher is shown in Figure 13.
Sacking operations have been simplified in many cases
using automatic weighing and sacking equipment. Paper
are also finding use in the industry. Typical of sacking
mentis that shown in Figure 14, while a stack of
alfalfa loaded in a freight car is shown in Figure 15.
Still other variations of equipment are in use.
machines make it possible to handle dehydrated alfalfa
bulk loading equipment when buyers are interested in
14.-A!falfa s a cking equipmen t.
Vermillion, South Dakota.
25
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26
DEHYDRATED A LFALFA
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
27
. expenses, bank credit, dues,. a nd taxes, which they esti$4 to $5 per ton.
estimat es of cost of production are as follows:
Alfalfa
$10.00
Gasoline
2.00
Gas
2.00
Electr icity
2.00
Bags
5.00
Labor
8.00
Repairs
2.00
Depreciation
6.00
Cost per ton
$37.00
(37) estimated the cost of production at a somewhat
He gave as production costs a value somewhere
$15 and $23 per ton, excluding t he cost of alfalfa. If
purchased at $10 a ton the cost would b.e from $25
ton, somewhat below the estimate of Dombrowski and
Fig. 15.-Alfalfa sacked in paper b a gs and stacked in freight
shipmen t. Photo courte3y of the W . J. Small Co., Division of
Daniels-Midland Co.
type of product. These devices also serve to r educe labor
by reducing labor requirem ents, but probably increase·
cost due to machine operations. A few instances of eq
for bulk loading alfalfa meal are also known and can be
to reduce costs if the buyer is willing to purchase carload
of alfalfa meal loaded in this manner. The cost of bags
amounts to approximately $8.00 per ton at present quul.4l·•v•~'
Cost of Production
Costs of producing deh ydrated alfalfa vary consid
among various locations in t h e United States as well as
in local areas. The industry is subject to wide variati
production costs due to different methods of manag
different equipment. Many operators are pron e to
with their units. This also tends to produce variation s in
duction costs. The industry as a whole is a new industry
is changing r apidly, which again · tends to make for unLeoual;
production costs.
In spite of difficulties in making accurate estimates,
likely that th e data presented by Dombrowski and Palmer
are as good as any available. They reported a cost-of-pr
tion figure of $37.00 per ton in 1948 as 'being a fairly
estimate. This value did not include storage, sales costs,
~~,,., ....,~~...
and Silker (50) reported a cost estimate, made in
$49.00 per ton. Their data were based on a production
ton of meal per hour, ·operating 20 hours per day
a month a n d 5 mont h s per year.
cost was pla ced a t $49 per ton, broken down as
Raw material
P ower, 130 KWH
Fuel (gas )
Bags, storage,
shipping
Labor (10 men)
Amortization,
interest, taxes
Maintenance,
insurance, misc.
$15.00
2.00
2.00
10.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
$49.00
be seen th at considerable var iation in cost estimates
· made. It must be r emembered, however, that there
fluctuations in the price paid for the alfalfa, l abor
pment costs, etc., which have resulted in con sidern in production costs. The amount of "down time"
inclement weather, etc., are factors which also
the actual cost.
·· example, H onstead and Silker's (50) estimate of the
st s is based on 10 m~n per dehydrator. Present opera-
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28
KANS AS BULL ETIN 356
tiona l pract ices such as th e use of autom atic
feede rs,
prop elled harv ester s, etc., have elimi nated some
As a resul t Dom brow ski and Palm er have lowe of the
r labor costs
their more recen t estim ate. They also use a
cost of raw
teria l of $10.0 0 a ton rathe r than the $15.00 used
and Silke r. Thes e two facto rs acco unt for most by .L:l.'-'.u"'~""''"
of the diff
ence in the two estim ates.
An estim ate of cost also was made for the
Unite d
Depa rtme nt of Agri cultu re in 1950 by Scho enleb
er and r epo .
in Feed stuff s (83) as total ing $37 per ton.
Costs on
item s inclu ded labor $8.28 , gas $2.20, elect ricity
chine repai rs $2.57. Thes e figures agree close $1.62, and
ly with t hose
Dom browski and Palm er.
I nves tmen ts in plan t and equip ment also
a one- unit plan t the inves tmen t may vary vary wide ly.
from $40,0 00
$190,000, with an avera ge of $95,0 00 _( 82, 83).
Cash . re~
of $10,0 00 to $15,000 per unit are reqm red at
the begm mng .
the seaso n.
Scho enleber also estim ated the typic al cr ew to
numb er
m en, inclu ding on e mill opera tor and fe~de
r, two sacke rs,
field oper ator, two haule rs, a nd one repa1 r man.
Mark et price s on dehy drate d alfal fa also have
varie d
over the past sever al years . P r ices in Kans as
City
have fl
tuate d in one year (1948 ) from $81.2 5 in J a nuar
y
to
$41.50
Augu st. Whe n price s were fixed in 1944- 45
the figur e
$60.30. In 1949 the price dropp ed to $39.5
quota tions (1951 ) have been $73.60 per ton 5.(inR ecen t
Kans as
Thus it can be seen that the plant mana gers
are deali ng
a wide ly fluctuating mark et whic h make s opera
tion at a
or less stabl e marg in almo st im possi ble.
ENG INEE RING RESE ARC H
Rete ntion of Caro tene
One of the m ost impo rtant probl ems the alfal
indus try has is that of prese rving the origi nal fa
ten t of the green alfal fa, both dur in g dehy drati carot ene
on and d
subse quen t stora ge of the alfal fa meal .
Since the destr uctio n of carot ene migh t resul
datio n proce ss, and since aldehydes, which can t from an
agen ts, are produced by poor comb ustio n of t act as
h e fuel, the
of furnace and quali ty of the fuel- air mixture were
in
as facto rs in ca roten e reten tion. This appr
oach seem ed ,
offer real possi biliti es, since the work of Greene,
et al. (35)
show n that t he quali ty of dehy drate d egS?; powd
er
was
materially as the r esult of the adsor ption of
aldeh
ydes
perox ides formed by incom plete comb ustion of
the fuel.
· DEHY DRAT ED AL FALF A
29
ts conducted in a smal l, pilot size, How ard-t
ype
•·•··v'"'"'u.'1"· loane d to the Depa rtme nt of Chem
ical Engi neeri n g
Labo ratories, Inc., failed to produ ce
chan ges in carot ene reten tion · as a resul t of any sigchan ges
of comb ustio n. This fact was verified by carot
ene
tests on alfal fa m eal from Heil dehy drato rs with
furin whic h comb ustio n shou ld be complete, a nd
on meal
ehyd ra tors, such as the H owar d, in which the
in the dryin g space ; thus ever y oppo rtuni ty gas was
was profor the prod uctio n and adso rptio n of aldeh ydes,
perox othe r oxidi zin g mate rials. Agai n, no signi fican
t difwas found .
appro ach to the carot ene reten tion prob
the inactivation of the en,zyme systems. The lem incarot ene could well be the r esult of enzy mic destrucactiv
was made to remo ve this possibility by stea min ity.
g or
u~lJ.Hl.l". t he alfal fa prior to deh ydrat
ion. As shown by Silke r,
and King ( 89), this proce dure work ed
6) when the dehy drati on was cond ucted at ver y well
relatively
--+--
·LSI:
~ -----< ~ ·--- -;
·- --- -
~ -----,
ir- - - - - ,
i
1
f R
STORE D A T 3 ° C·
P-=--~
-- -
-
~ - - -
S TORED AT
D
R"OOM
- -- -
'
·-<b
TEI>tPE RATU Rf
I
2
l»
STORAGE TIME IN MON THS
4
5
6.-Ef fect of blanc hing on t he carotene r etent
ion of alfalf a a ft er
dehy dra tion. Dotte d line, bla
; solid line, unF B, f r esh blanch ed; F, fresh a lfa lfa; D,nched
dehyd ra ted.
eratu r es over sever al hour s. Whe n high temp
eratu re
in t he smal l How ard deh ydrat or was used howucJll1IJ Lii: had n o signi fican t
effec t on carot ene ret~ntion
.
dehy drati on or subse quent stora ge. It has beer:
smce that t?e enzyme syste ms a r e inact ivate
tures to wh1ch the alfal fa is subjected durin g d .by the
the usua l
proce ss.
attem pt t o improve the carotene ret entio n durin
g
subse quen t to dehy drati on invol ved the addit
ion of
u ..,~!un
r ;·
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30
KAN SAS BUL LET IN 356
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
anti oxid ants . This was acco mpl ishe
d by dipp ing the a lfalf a
· a dilu te aque ous solu tion of a n anti oxid
ant. A 0.2 perc ent
line pyro gall ol solu tion was used.
The resu lts are show n
Figu re 17. It will be note d that this
trea tme nt incr ease d
31
U)
~
(.!)
0
0
.:::!!)
IJJ ~
2 01-----+-.-.::~.f'>..:?>-.~-+---+-
----1----1
Zoo
w>
i"-r;:
~
<l
u
6
.~
0
10
r---+----r------+--~~+---~~
~---~
0 .!=-----=----+----.J:-----,~,---
----:::-----.1..
'Fig. 17 .-E ffect of dipp ing fresh
solut ion befo re dehy drati on in rotar alfal fa in 0.25 perc ent
y kiln dehy drato r.
( 1 ) Undi pped meal , store d in glass
( 2) Undi pped meal store d in glass jars expo sed to light .
jan wrap ped with black
prev ent pene tratio n of light rays.
( 3) Meal from a lfa lfa dipp ed
in pyro gallo l solut ions a nd store
d
glass jars expo 3ed to light .
( 4 ) Meal from alfal fa dipp ed in
pyr ogall ol solut ions a nd store d in
dark (as in 2).
caro tene reta ined by over 50 perc ent duri
The expe nse of such an ope ratio n madng 4 mon ths of
e furt her
imp ract ical .
c:! Tr\T"<>·cn•
Frac tion atio n of Deh ydra ted Alfa lfa
The poss ibili ty of sepa ratin g the fibro
us, stem my part s
dehy drated alfa lfa from the f.iner le~f
frac tion , whi ch is rich .
i n both prot ein and caro tene , was
·
desi rabl e beca use the sma ller bulk inve stig ated . This
of the rich er co.ml>OileiHS.,
coul d be stor ed und er refr iger atio n ,
at less cost than the tota l mea l. Theor in an iner t atm osp
high qua lity mea l so
duce d then coul d be blen ded with othe
caro tene con tent up to desi rabl e leve r mea l to brin g the
ls.
The ungroun d, dehy drat ed alfa lfa cam
e from the pilo t
hyd rato r in liz-i nch leng ths. The se
wer
e
fed to a sma ll
mon d air sepa rato r whi ch separate d the
on the basi s of dens ity and part icle size mea l into two
tion of the air sepa rato r, the prop ortio . By vary ing the
ns of the mea l foun d
CAROTE
PROTEIN
20
40
so
eo
100
PERCENT CA RO TENE OR PROTE
IN IN
FIN E FRACTION
.-Fra ction ation of ungr ound, dehy
drate d altal fa by a ir sepa -
'"'''"H''ll coul d be con troll ed. The resu lts
of
show n in Figu re 18 in whi ch the percthis frac tion aent
frac tion is plot ted agai nst the perc ent by wei ght
of the tota l
or t otal caro ten e, foun d in the fine
frac
tion
. Thu s a
can be prod uced cont aini n g 80 perc ent
of the caro tene
con tain ing 65 perc ent of the weig ht.
This mea ns
qua lity mea l cont aini ng 200,000 I. U.
p er pou nd coul d
ted into two frac tion s, the larg er
of
ch wou ld
con tent of 246, 000 I. U. per pou ndwhi
and
con tain
of the mea l. The sma ller frac tion
wou ld hav e a
. con tent of 114,000 I. U. per pou nd
and
the mea l. This latte r frac tion is still con tain 35 pere mar ket spec ifica tion s for a gua rant good mea l· and
.·.. 00,000 unit s. This coul d be plac ed eed caro tene conon the mar ket im' and only the high caro tene mea l
stor ed for late r
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32
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
sale. Since the cost of storage is an important item,
placed in storage should have as high a carotene
possible.
The wide variation in the quality of alfalfa meal
by commercial dehydrators indicated the need for
mental studies on the· fac tors affecting the
of
alfalfa. T o t h is end, a sma ll rotary drum
for measuring temperatures throughout its l
trolling as many variables as possible was
Department of Chemical Engineering. This
shown in Figure 19.
Fig. 19.-Experimental pilot plant alfalfa dehydrator at
College, Ma nha ttan.
Drum Rotation Rate
One of the most important variables in this type o ·
tor is the rate of rotation of the drum. ·A study of
therefore was conducted in the pilot plant d
Koegle (56) . While the rate of feed to the
flow through the dehydrator, and the outlet temp
held constant, the rate of revolution of the drum
between 12 and 39 revolutions per minute.
It was expected that, as the rat e of revolution
alfalfa would p:·ogress through the dehydrator
This, in effect, shortens the time of drying and
.·
in higher moisture content for the product. At the
the gas temperature at the inlet to the drum
·
through the drum should be higher as the rate of
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
33
about because the actual amount of water
but slightly for a considerable change
content. In order to remove this water
driving force for the drying process must
would be manifested by the increased tem...... <""""v••cu above.
found to be true between rotation rates of
.. ns per minute. Between 30 and 39 revolu·..··. however, the moisture content of the product
. · temperature gradient through the drum also
observed at the same time that there was
· ··· .alfalfa to pile up in the front end of the drum.
· · interpreted to mean that between 30 and 39
UJ.J..u.u. ~c. the centrifugal force developed held the
of the drum. The rate of revoshould occur can be calculated from theo.
for a smooth drum with no flights. This
··· •..8.2 revolutions per minute for the small 2. used. The flights in the drum, which were
· e o'f 15° to the radii, would tend to reduce
.·.·.· ·. to produce this effect.
installations have drums 8 feet in diameter.
required to hold the alfalfa along the
was calculated to be 19.2 r.p.m., while
ng to the limiting value of 30 r.p.m. f ound
drum would be about 15 r.p.m.
•.·.· . · the desirable operating range will lie below
trifugal force becomes important. In this
.. · in the drier will be proportional to the
.. .. of revolution, if the a ir velocity is held
·.total time spent in the dehydrator, however,
riding around the circumference of the drum
t of the drum, and part is spent in falling from
.stream to the low point of the drum. The
. effective than the former, because of the
the alfalfa and the hot gases.
it seemed desirable to investigate a decontact between the alfalfa and the
......,...o"""'~·~ possible efficiency. This requirement
so-called pneumatic type drier.
·. · s
Type Alfalfa Drier
also known as pneumatic conveyor dryor Flash Drying", is the removal of
material as th·e material is being
under the impulse of hot gases. Usually
~., ...uJ,..,.,.,.,
of Combustion Engin eerin g Com pan y, lnc., New Y ork.
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KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
the duct in which drying occurs is vertical; hence, by
design and operation, a considerabl e degree of
can occur according to density, shape, and size of the disp
particle. Sirice a decrease in moisture content is often a<.:'\:V.Lll'
panied by a correspond ing decrease in density without a
responding change in the physical dimensions of the disp
particle, the drying column may be so shaped that the
par~icle will be automatica lly retained in the drying co
unt1l dry and then expelled.
Although artificial drying itself has been practiced for
ries, the commercia l application of the principle of pncu.uH:t.~"
drying dates back only to about 1930. Several comm
makes of driers are available for gen·eral purchase.
drying of chopped grasses, alfalfa, sugar beet tops, etc.,
been claimed for units of .foreign manufactur e, among
are the Pherson (Sweden), Bamag (Great Britain), V
Broek (Holland), and Buttner (Germany) . The use of the
mond Flash Drier manufactur ed by Combustion
Company in the United States has been confined mainly
drying materials such as pulverized coal, chemical salts,
age sludge, and the like. Material which has a tend
cake must be disintegrate d before introductio n into the
column.
De Lorenzi (23) lists four fundamenta l factors which
the rate of moisture r emoval from a dispersed particle
a pneumatic drier. They are:
1. Moisture distribution
2. Temperatu re differential
3. Agitation
4. Particle size
A material in which the moisture is close to the surface
· be dried rapidly to low moisture levels without heat
This rapid rate is possible because the major portion of
is evaporated under a condition such that the rate of
movement from the internal portion of the solid to the s
is sufficiently high to supply water to· the surface as
as it is evaporated. During this period of drying, known
"constant-r ate period" of drying, the rate of evaporation
the particle is independen t of t he structure of t he particle,
the particle as a whole remains at the wet-bulb temp
of the hot gas stream if adiabatic drying conditions~'' pr
A.t some value of moist\'..re content of the solid, known
"critical moisture content," the rate of moisture mi
the surface begins to diminish and the temperatur e of
face of the particle being dried begins to rise.
~Adiab atic.
drying condi tions h eat e n e:rgy f or drying available
dec rease m the s ens tb le heat content o f the h o t gas s tream .
DEHYDRATE D ALFALFA
35
period following this point is the "falling-rat e ·p eriod"
during which the rate of moisture removal diminaccelerated pace, while the surface temperatur e of
a nd the particle as a whole approaches the dryture of the hot gas stream. Unless precautiona ry
are taken to reduce the hot gas temperatur e or to
the material being dried from the hot gas stream,
or "burning" can occur. The critical moisture conof drying during the falling-rate period, and the
at which heat damage occurs are influenced prithe internal structure of the particle and by the
and humidity of the hot gas str eam.
that a high rate of drying be maintained , a broad
differential between the dry-bulb temperatur e of
and the surface of the particle from which moisng evaporated must be maintained . During the conperiod, the temperatur e difference is established
the dry-bulb temperatur e and wet-bulb temperatur e
gas. The t emperature difference during the
period is of secondary importance , however, as the
is controlled almost entirely by the rate of moisture
. . or "diffusion" to the surface. In other words tem. · • and humidity of the gas stream tend to fix th~ rate
. during the constant-ra te period, while the character
. terial being dried tends to fix the rate of drying during-rate period. Time, not temperatur e, is the most
controlled variable during the falling-rate period of
of agitation or turbulence is also frequently deough not always essential to the successful func• a pneumatic drier. The rate of drying during the
period is related directly to the fundamenta l
steady-stat e heat transfer by conduction which
.the rate of heat transfer to a surface is proportiona l
·
ture difference, the extent of t he particle surface,
coefficient of heat transfer." The film coefficient
represents the rate at which heat is t ransa hypothetica l stagnant film composed of a
vapor and dry, hot gas surroundin g the parof the particle in t he hot gas stream or turbugas stream has a marked effect in increasing
transfer for a given temperatur e differential
.·. resistance to h eat transfer. As the critical
and the possibility of heat damage during
..are functions of the rates of heat tran.sfilm separating the particle surface
• the hot gas stream may often be adshould be subjected to extreme
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33
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
turbulenc e during the early part of the constant- rate
followed by a quiescent region extending from the latter
tion of the constant- rate period to some point of withdra
of the dried material within the falling-ra te period.
Particle size, particle shape, and particle density are clos
r elated in any considera tion of pneumati c drying theory.
size and shape are an index of the surface-to-volume
high exposed surface-to -volume ratio for a materia l being
is desirable in that the geometry favors minimum
migration of internal moisture to the surface; and,
low values of critical moisture content and favorable la.J.HJ.JL6 -.:.
rate periods of dryin g occur. The particle s hape a nd pa~ticle
density t ogether determine the relative movemen t between the
particle and the hot gas stream. This movemen t, in turn, ·
rectly influence s the value of the film coefficien t o.f heat
fer and the height of drying column r equired for a given
service. Material having the shape of a flake is ideally
to drying to low-mois ture values in a pneumati c-type drier
cause of short distances for moisture migration .
Experime ntal Drier
With meager design informati on an experime ntal pneuma
drier was set up in the chemical engineeri ng departme nt
Kansas State College for the purpose of learning of its
use as a pre-drier to boost the capacity of commerc ial
type driers used for alfalfa drying. This first unit,
during th e summer of 1949, was never successful because
insufficie nt drying capacity and extravaga nt use of heat.
Profiting from the experien ce of the first attempt, the
neers construct ed a · new column with th e purpose of (a)
creasing the time of contact of the particle with the hot
(b) providing greater opportun ity for flotation and
tion of the dispersed particles, and (c) providing a col
.
from which data might be obtained for the more rational d •
sign of future pneumatic drying columns.
The exp erimental drier finally used consisted of a
furnace, blower, drying column, and cyclone separator .
arrangem ent of these units and oth er details are shown
matically in Figure 20. As noted, the drying column
cylindrica l metal duct 24 feet in length and 16 inches in
ter, with a tapered transition section at the lower end.
vation windows and thermocouple connectio ns for
gas temperatu res were suitably placed along the wall
ins ulated column. A stem separator was included in the
ition section to r emove large stems from t he field-ch
alfalfa before appreciab le drying occurred.
Details of furnace, blower, feeder, a nd cyclone
are omitted here, since they were auxiliary equipmen t to
DEHYDRA TED ALFALFA
37
column under study. The blower could be installed to
suction on the cyclone separator, thereby avoiding operaat excessive temperatu res.
each test, samples of alfalfa were collected every
minutes from the feed to the column, from the stem separa-
E XHAUST
GASES
DRYING
COLUMN
DRlFO ALFALFA
PF.OOUCT
STEM
DISCHAR '?E
VENT\.Ri FEED
SECTION
20. -Diagram of experiment al, verti cal drying unit a t K ansas State
Manhattan.
from the top of the pneumati c drying column, and from
product withdraw n from the cyclon e separator. In
on, temperatu res of the hot gases entering and leaving
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38
KANS AS B ULLET IN 356
DEHY DRAT ED ALFA LFA
t h e test secti on were recor ded, togeth er
nece ssary
for deter minin g the alfal fa f eed rate, thewith
rate of stem
draw al from the sepa rator , t h e hot conv
- a-a s r at e and
hum~dity of_ th_e co~veying gas. Thes e .eyino
da ta"' ; ere an~lyzed
provide a n msight m t o t h e drying oper ation
.
10.0
90
80
\
70
\1
60
so
\
40
1\l
30
1\
20
:
.
\
'
I
~
10
;
9
1\
8
\
'
'
7
1\
6
5
\
4
\
Wo:Mo iatuuo n Feed , ID./Ib . bone drtAif
ol~
Wo: Moistu re ia Produc t, lb./lb. boae 6ryAifa
lfa .
2
1000
I I JI
I J 1111 1'
ISOO
20 00
2500
W;ASS VELOC ITY T hrough Prt i noColu mn
lb./hr. -
sq. ft.
Fig. 21.-Relatio nsh ip betwe en drying gas
rate and initial and
a lfalfa moist ure con tent.
Experime nta l R esult s
of the data obtai ned f or a tota l of 63 sepa r ate
dr ying
alfal fa of wide ly diffe rent initial m oistur e conte
nt
the dryin g rate was influ enced prim arily by
the ve. and temp eratu r e of the hot conv eying gas,
a nd the mois. · cont ent and rate of the alfal fa feed. For
inlet hot gas
eratu res of over 720° F., the reduc tion in mois
.. ··. of the a lfalfa durin g dryin g in t h e expe rime ture conntal colum n
d t o be a funct ion of the mass velocity (lb./ h r.sq. ft.)
gas flow throu gh the cross -sect ion of t he dryin
g colum n.
the m ass veloc ity of the gas inste ad of t he veloc
ity of
(whi ch is sensi tive to temp er at ure becau se of
the terneffec t on the dens ity), a grou p ( W 0 - 1 ) was
correW,
(F ig. 21 ), wher e Wo is t he moist ure conte
W, is the moist ure conte nt of the prod uct,nt of the
both exas lb./ lb. of alfal fa (moisture-free ) . The temp
erature
f the hot gas strea m was r educe d by this
m ethod of
becau se of the inter rela tion sh ip of temp
, and veloc it y of the ga s strea m a t any cross eratu re,
colum n, an d becau se of the temp eratu re, dens -sect ion
ity, and
gr adien t t hrou gh t he colum n.
a lfalfa was fed to the expe rime ntal dryin g colum
n
of only 200 lb./h r., much high er feed rates a r e
possi ble
• a suita ble feedi ng syste m. F or an assum ed
val
t (wet basis ) for the a lfalfa feed, and 6 p er ue of 70
cent (wet
for the dr y leaf leavi n g the dryin g secti on,w
o -1 equals
.
.·.·cor respo nding to a hot gas rate of 1950 wl
· in itial gas t empe ratur e to the drying lb./ hr.-s q. ft.
secti on were
.··.. F a nd the dryin g gas were exha ust ed at 250
°
. ;b.eat ener gy woul d be abou t 680,000 BTU / F, the availhr.-s q.
colum n cross -sect ion. This h eat energ y woul ft. of
to a mois ture r em oval from t he alfal fa of 680d corre This mois ture remo va l rate indic ates a feed rate lb./ h r .of wet alfalf a per h our per squar e foot, andof 1000
r a te of 300 lb./ hr .-sq. ft. F or a drier of t h is type,a dry
heat
not exceed 25 p ercen t of the avail able hea t energ
y
; therefore, the final colum n woul d have
capacity of 750 lb./h r. of wet a lfalfa for each an apsqua re
· ·.·col umn cross -sect ion area.
pract ice may requi r e that t his figur e be reduc
ed some e t h e prese nce of a more dens e suspe nsion
of a lto pr oduc e high er linear gas veloc ities. S ince
t he
city must be caref ully contr olled to prop erly
"floa t"
a gr eater alfa1fa feed r ate tends to reduc e the
al-
j
I
i
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40
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
Iowable mass velocity together with the heat energy
capacity of the gas.
The height of the drying column in the floating bed
pneumatic drier is not critical, provided that 'it exceeds a
tain minimum for practical operation. Theoretically, an ~··~...,.
leaf should remain in a drying section, regardless of
until sufficient moisture has been lost to allow it to be exp
Actually, however, a minimum height of column is set by
distance required to reduce the velocity of the wet alfalfa
injected upward into the column to the settling velocity in
hot gas stream. A height of 24 feet was found to be sati
tory, although higher columns are recommended for ultlU~Ll
installations. Short columns are undesirable in that the alfa
is virtually thrown from the inlet to the point of egress,
lowing very little time for drying. This is especially true
the feed is composed of alfalfa containing many coars
chopped stems.
The pneumatic-typa drier shows promise in the fiel d of
ficial a1falfa drying. A drier of this type may be
from energy balance considerations and experimental
presented. Further work is required to determine the
degree of field chopping and control features to yield a
product of consistently uniform quality.
Storage of Dehydrated Alfalfa
Dehydrated alfalfa frequently is s.tored before being sold
used in mixed feeds, since production in Kansas is limited
about a six-month period, while peak use occurs during
winter." Frequently it is advantageous to store high
meal produced early in the season and use it for blending
tions later. Market pr;ces are also a factor in storage
tions.
Dehydrated alfalfa has been commonly packaged in
bags each containing 100 pounds of meal. R ecently
operators have shifted to paper bags. These are usually
pound bags. Silker, Schrenk, · and King (91) previously
shown that such packaging had no deleterious effect on
meal. The paper bags help · eliminate some of the dust
ciated with packagin g and also with storage, thus
value in the warehouse. The burlap bags have salvage
while paper ones have none.
Some alfalfa meal is pelleted after passing through the
mer mill. The most common size is 3/16 inch in diameter.
pellets are produced as large as 1fz inch in diameter.
problem is not as troublesome with pellets, but an addi
operation is r equired. Pelleted m eal can be handled with
weighing and loading equipment, and bulk shipment is possibl "
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
41
requires careful control of moisture if the pellets
be satisfactory. The pressure of pelleting also produces
ble heating. The extra heat of pelleting is usually
in a storage hopper before the pellets are weighed
ed into freight cars or trucks or placed in storage.
pellets are produced without the use of hammer mill
~·"''·""~''~o the dry chops. These pellets usually are consumed
industry and apparently are quite satisfact ory for
use.
alfalfa meal has certain advantages. The dust
is diminished, l~ss volume is required, and bulk loadhandling are quite satisfactory.
manufacturers have experimented with a small amount
material in the pellets. One such additive, bentonit e,
of clay, has been used in quantities of l ess than 2 per.. This binding material, contrary to some reports, had
on 't he stability of carotene in t he alfalfa.
usually is dried to a moisture level of 6-8 percent on
t basis. This level is lower t han the normal equivalue for moisture in the meal and the average vapor
of the moisture in the atmosphere. As a result, dealfalfa meal usually will pick up moisture from t he
. The gain in w eight, due t o moisture, may be as
2-4 pounds per 100 pounds of alfalfa during even a
short period of storage. Schrenk and King (85)
the vapor pressure of water adsorbed on dehydrated
and have indicated that excessive drying is an addi. cost of operation.
must be continued, however, until all stemmy rnasufficiently dry to pass through the hammer mill
. It appears likely that with present t ypes of deunits the maximum moisture level that will permit
tion of the hammer mill would be most desirable.
may vary with different grades of alfalfa, but an
figure appears to be in t he neighborhood of 8-19 peradditional advantage to be gained is in the extra proafforded the car otene content of the alfalfa, since
Schrenk, and King (91) pointed out t hat increasing the
content of alfalfa resulted in slowing down the deof carotene in the meal during storage.
··· dust hazard in storage is also eliminated in part by the
· · small amount of oil added to the meal. This procedure
··.to have no effect on carotene or other nutrients in al. does tend to eliminate dust. Schoenleber (83 ) has
the cost of adding oil to the meal a t $1.50 per ton.
has no stabilizing effect on the carotene in alfalfa.
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42
'
;.·.
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
Fire Hazards
Alfalfa storage is also hazardous from the standpoint of
Alfalfa, sackP.d as it comes from the hammer m ill, will ha
a temperature 20° to 30° F. above the atmosphere. Sin ce it
finely divided the meal insulates itself well. 'The net result
that the center of a sack of meal cools very slowly. If
foreign part icles are in the meal, small rocks, metal, etc.,
m ay start a slow fire in the interior of t h e bag which may b
unnoticed for considerable time. Care, therefore, should b
.·
exerted to r emove all such foreign substances from
m eal before sacking. Electromagne ts are frequentiy used
remove particles of magnetic substances.
The temperature differ ential of alfalfa in a bag also caus
carotene losses to be uneven. The greatest loss of
takes place in t he center of the ba g wher e temperatures
highest. This requires that care be exercised in sampli
stored alfalfa meal wh en blending operations a re carried
·
and the meal is sold with a carotene guarantee.
STABILIZATI ON OF CAROTENE
Freshly dehydrated alfalfa w ill have a much greater ..,v1u•tau
of carotene (pro-vitamin A) than will alfalfa which has be
sun-cur~d u~der good conditions. During sun-curing,
destr uction I S brought about by the catalytic effect of the
zyme lipoxidase (62) , by sunlight in the presence of chi
phyll (72) , and p erhaps to some extent by uncatalyzed
tion. By dehydration, enzymic and photochemica l d
are eliminated to a large extent . Hence; properly
alfalfa may contain 95 percent of the carotene present i
fresh alfalfa, while sun-cured alfalfa may contain only
percent of the original carotene ('Immediately after sun
(19,24,57 ,58,81). However, both dehydrated and sun-cured
falfa lose vitamin A poten cy during storage, due to slow u ....1u"~"·j,~.
tion. Thus, one of the most important problems confro
the dehydration industry in its efforts to produce
greatest nutritional value is the prevention of the
oxidation that occurs during storage of t h e dehydrated prod
Nature of Carotene Destruction
Considerable time has been devoted to determinino- the
ner in which carotene is destroyed durin g stora;e. It
suggested that perhaps enzymes in the plant wer e not
vated c omplet ely during dehydration and that these
co.ntributed to ~arotene destruction d~ring subsequent
M1tchell and Kmg (63) found that lipoxidase was inacti
easily by the dehydration process, but that peroxidase was
However, it was shown that neither peroxidase n or other
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
43
present in the meal wer e responsible f.o r carotene deon, as blanching the alfalfa befor e dehydration did not
the r ate of destruction during storage of the meal. Such
·~::<:t~lll.t:Ht wou ld hav e inactivated any enzymes which could
e carotene destruction.
···· has been suggested that such metal ions as iron, copper ,
:~.ul~c:ul~::~;~::, and cobalt, which frequently function as catalysts,
responsible for carotene destruction during storage. HowThompson ( 98) was unable to reduce caroten e l oss by
alfalfa mea l with various m etal deactivators, a nd he
that metal ions apparently do not catalyze carotene
in alfalfa meal. Thus, it must be concluded t hat
nism by which car otene is oxidized during storage
not known.
Storage Temperature
methods have been proposed for preven ting or slowthe loss of caroten e during storage. It was obser ved
( 40) th at storage temperature was a major factor,
the rate of loss was approximately doubled for ever y
in t emperature. Wilder and Bethk e (105) reported
meal stor ed for 6 months lost 10 percent of its
at - 23° C, 50 percent at 16° C, and 60-72 percent at
.·
· temperature. Silker, Schrenk, and King (91) stored alboth in a commercial war ehouse a nd in a large cave
on, Kansas. The cave is used by th e United States
of Agriculture as a natural storage cooler. A ternof 37-40° F was maintained in t h e cave by means
ber of refrigeration units. They found that meal
.
· in moisture-proo f bags in the warehouse lost about 70
of its caroten e in 5 mont hs, while meal in the nat ural
about 39 percent. A few of the larger dehydrating
es now are using refrigera ted warehouses to take ad·
of this tem9era:ure effect.
Inert Atmospheres
carotene destruction is an oxidative process, it should
. ble to r educe carotene loss by replacing the oxygen
· surrounds the particles with a non-oxidizing atmos. · It was noted by Taylor and Russell (96) that storage
meal in cans which had been evacuated or which
flushed with nitrogen preser ved more carotene than
storage. Hoffman, Lum, and Pitman ( 49) studied
of a n inert atmospher e, and concluded t hat probably
conten t of the atmosphere surroundi ng the alfalfa
have t o be reduced to less than 3 percent if storage
atmosph er es is to be successfuL A patent issued t o
'
! ~
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44
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
Graham (33) for storage under non-oxidizing gas is being
by the Cerophyl Laboratories, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., for
age of dehydrated alfalfa and cereal grasses at their .........,"'.,,. . . 4
Kansa_s, plant. The process consists essentially of placing
meal m large ste_el bins and flushing out the air with gas
produced by the mcomplete combustion of natural gas.
method of storage, like refrigeration, requires more ela
facilities than the small dehydrator can afford.
ll'Ioisture Content of Meal
Bielefeldt (11) and Silker, Schrenk, and King (91)
that alfalfa meal containing a high moisture content lost
carotene during storage than did meal of low moisture '-'V'~~"'.u
Bielefeldt recommended that the alfalfa contain about 13
cent water and that it be stored at 75 percent humidity.
these conditions his meals lost 30 to 60 percent of their
tene. Silker et al. (91) correlated better carotene retention
burlap and paper bags, as compared to moisture-proof
with an increase in moisture content during storage from
5 percent up to 8-10 percent in the burlap and paper bags.
Halverson and Hart ( 42), and Mitchell, Schrenk, and
(65) investigated high moisture storage with air-tight c
tainers. Meals containing 12 percent or more of water
mented, during which oxygen was consumed and carbon
was produced. If the' containers were air-tight, the meals
were being stored effectively in an inert atmosphere, and
about 10 percent of the carotene was destroyed. This
has been patented by Halverson and Hart ( 43). Unfo
it has been found (65) that after opening of such samples
tene destruction is very rapid. Thus, a sample containing
percent moisture and stored at 25° C in a tightly sealed
had lost about 10 percent of its carotene when opened at
end of 5 months. The sample was returned to
one month later it had lost 42 percent of its carotene.
disadvantage of such storage is a change in color from a
mal green to an olive green. This change is due to the
tion of acid during fermentation, which causes the con
of chlorophyll to pheophytin. These changes probably
discourage the use of high-moisture storage.
Bailey, Atkins, and Bickoff (8) reported that 8 percent
ture is optimum for storage in air-tight containers if no
space is left in the container. At this moisture level there
no change in color. However, rapid loss still occurred
the seal was broken. These workers suggest that such
may be feasible if an inexpensive container which is imp
to oxygen should become available.
45
Pelleting
attention has been given t o the possibility of improvretention by pellet ing the meal. There is general
however, that pelleting does not have a beneficial
·· · (105). In fact, some carotene destruction results from
operation (66), due t o the heat produced and to
of this heat for some time following the opera7). Hence, the pellets may contain less carotene
meal after several months of storage.
Carotene (Internat ional uni t s per pound )
Jhonths in ;:)torage
0
1
3
5
209 ,300
112,500
59,700
40,000
182,100
95,200
55,200
36,300
Antioxidants
t trend in stabilization studies is toward t he use
Appreciable stability can be imparted to caroby the addition of various antioxidants (10),
problems connected wit h their use with meals
of getting them through the proteins of the
the fat phase where the carotene is located.
n does occur, however. Kephart (53) has obpatent on the use of diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine
being sold under the trade name "Caromax." Thi~
·' ·"··--~-~ that meal containing 163,000 International Units
A potency per pound immediately after dehydration
100,000 International Units after six months when
a solution of Caromax dissolved in a vegetable
L,V,"'-«-'a''u"'.
(98) tested 54 chemicals for their ability to i ndestruction. The chemicals wer e dissolved in
ethylene glycol monoethyl ether) a.nd were sprayed
so that the final concentration of t he a n tioxidants
of the meal. By this t echnique it was foun d
·"'' ·~u•-"'""-b utyl-p-phenylenediamine, 6-ethoxy-2, 2,4-tri2-dihydroquinoline, and 2, 5-di-tert-butyl-hydroquieffective inhibitors of carotene oxidation. One prob.
in the use of such chemicals is their possible
· The use of Caromax has been approved by the U. S.
.· Drug Administration, indicating its lack of toxicity.
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DEHYDRA TED ALFALFA
KANSAS BULLETIN 35 6
4G
Toxicity studies on the chemicals tested by
D:Ot been published as yet.
Addition of Feed Ingredien ts
Mixing alfalfa meal with other feed ingredien ts often has
marked stabilizin g effect on t h e carotene in t he alfalfa.
nius and Hellstrom (17) reported that soybean meal ;.,..,,.. .......,"'<'~'.
carotene retention when a m ixture of 30 percent soybean
and 70 percent alfalfa meal was compress ed and stored.
found no improvem ent if the m ixture was not compress
The addition of oat meal had no influence under either
tion of storage.
Mitchell and Silker (67) mixed alfalfa meal in a 1-1
with various ingredien ts frequentl y found in mixed f eeds,
st ored the loose mixtures at. 25° C. Contrary to the
obtained by Brun ius and H ellstrom, the presence of
meal, soybean meal, and crude rice bran m eal increased
tene stability a ppreciabl y .in these loose mixtures (Table
T ABLE 8.-Carote ne Stability in 1 :1 Mixtures of Dehy drated Alfalfa
and Various Di1ue nts (Stored at 25° C) ( 67).
Materia l Added
N one ....................................................
Cottonseed meal ································
Westland milo grain ························ 10
Dist illers' fried sol ubles ···················· 14
Spent hops ·····-······························ ······ 48
Unspent hops ·················· ··················· 21
Giuco3e ··············································· 17
4
Fresh brewer's yeast (10 % ) ............
Dried brewer' s yea>t ························· 13
Dehydrated sorghum plants ·············· 16
Soybean meal ····································· 11
Linseed meal ...................................... 20
None ····················································
Converted rica bran ...........................
Unconverte d rice bran ·······················
21
25
10
apparent from the above discussion that the problem
ting carotene destruction during storage has not been
satisfacto rily. Although refrigerat ion a)ld inert gas
are helpful, they probably will not be used by t h e
companie s because of the cost. The use of antioxida nts
to be most promising at the present time. None has
yet that will preserve all of the carotene, but som e
chemicals being studied may reduce destructio n suffithat meal can still meet a guarantee of 100,000 units
after six months of st orage.
COltiPOSI TION OF ALFALFA
Major Constitue nts
major constitue nts of dehydrate d alfalfa meal are inin T able 9. Such an analysis is the type usually made
sts in the feed industry. However, it does not indicate
composit ion of alfalfa, since each of these fractions
of a number of definite chemical substa nces. Frea knowledg e of the individua l components of these
9.-The Major Constituent s of Alfalfa Meal Dehydrated i n Early
{ 8 4).
16.4
17
27
29
59
42
29
19
26
28
20
40
26
39
41
73
56
48
36
41
4'8
31
60
35
52
49
79
69
63
50
55
58
39
74
65
51
71
43
30
40
52
55
50
66
63
88
79
78
67
66
73
.56
85
30.9
4 2.8
2.2
7.7
is desirable, and much effort has been exisolating and identifyin g various SU:'!)stance s in al-
66
Pelleting did not enl,lance this effect. H owever, only
soybean and cottonseed meals wer e effective. This indica
that the stabilizer is associated with the small amount of
\~'tt \.n. 'I.\\.~ -m.ea.l.. \)"1 '1.1:\.e e'!..~e\.\e't . ~~-m.e ~~ \.1:\.e a.~~\.\.\.'<: e~
l1W,'!~'Q.~~Q C~'!~\.~1\.~ {\~~\.'!'U.C\.\~1:1. \.'rl.~\)~, \\1\."<>~~{\ m1.0a\), ..
others had little effect (glucose, dehydrate d sorghum
...·..··
the most impor tant con stituents of dehydrated alfalfa,
from the viewpoin t of the feed mixer, is protein. This
from the fact that alfalfa meal long has been sold
of its protein content. A common gr ade of meal
teed to contain 17 p er cent protein. The protein con.·. unblended meal depends upon the stage of ma turity
· t he alfalfa is dehydrated, and up on su ch things as
. itions a nd insect injury. . About 65-70 percent of
by cattle and sheep, and 60- 65 p ercent
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KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
48
49
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
Amino Acid Content
The amino acid content of the proteins of alfalfa meal
been studied by Stokes et al. (94) and by Almquist (3) and
Iiams (106). The amounts of the essential amino acids in
falfa meal are shown in Table 10, from which it will
TABLE 10.-The
Amino Acid
Histidine ............. .............................................._ .... , ........ .
Arginine .........................................................................
0.56
Lysine ............................................................................
0.89
Leucine ..........................................................................
1.19
Isoleucine ......................................................................
0.65
Valine ............................................................................
0.80
Methionine ....................................................................
0.03
Threonine .................................. ....................................
0.60
Tryptophane ..................................................................
0.26
Phenylalanine .............................. ,.................................
0. 74
seen that alfalfa meal will contribute to a ration
amounts of all of the essential amino acids except
,u•• .,,_.,u,..,
Another very important constituent of dehydrated
carotene. The amount of carotene present at the time of
hydration varies considerably with the season and the
of maturity at which the crop is harvested. If harvested at
bloom, it normally will contain 150,000-250,000·
units of vitamin A potency per pound, with the first and
cuttings being the highest. The carotene content d ...,,, ... ,,,.,.
rapidly if harvest is delayed until the crop is past early
The importance of the carotene content to the feed mixer
is r eflect ed in the fact that it is customary for the seller
guarantee a certain amount of carotene per pound.
Associated with carotene are other pigments such as
phyll and xanthophyll. These are not of sufficient
as yet to r equire that a certain amount be present.
the chlorophyll content is important, for the quality of
often is judged by the color. Chlorophyll may be present
excess of 3000 ppm and xanthophylls over 400 ppm.
id, 1.13 percent crude wax, 2.19 percent triglycerides,
percent unsaponifiable material. The triglycerides
!~a.ultu 16.9 percent linoleic acid, 32.2 percent linolenic acid,
percent ol eic a cid, and 19.9 percent saturated acids.
et al. (20) found the wax fraction to contain the aln-triacontanol and a paraffin. Work now being done at
s State College indicates that the wax fraction also cona high molecular weight ester.
a-spinasterol, was isolated from the unsaponifiable
of alfalfa lipids by Fernholz and Moore (29). It conabout 0.05 percent of t he meal (12). Petering et a!.
·able to convert the sterols of alfalfa partially to vitamin
ultraviolet irradiation (73). They assumed that the vitaformed in this manner resulted from the activation of
, although ergosterol is not known to occur in alfalfa.
Vitamins
vitamin content of alfalfa is of extremely great importo the feed mixer. Most of the known vitamins are found
and based on repor ts of additional growth obtained
alfalfa is added to what has been considered to be a comtion, there probably are present also one or more
factors which have not been identified. Table 11 lists
the vitamins which may be present in a high grade
alfalfa meal.
LL. .
Lipids
The lipids of alfalfa l eaf meal were studied by Jackson
Kummerow (51). They found the meal to contain 0.24
H.-Vitamin Content of Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal.
8 mcm j gm
16 mcm /gm
27
13, 45
3 3. 7 mcmjgm
13
40.4 mcm/gm
13
11.3 mcm j gm
60
174 mg/ lb
97
475 mg/lb
97
. . ......................... 100,000 I.U. Vit.A/lb
Other Organic Constituents
e of a saponin which may have
animals has been suggested by several
ther substance having physiological
alfalfa by Ferguson et al. (28) by
97
physiologi cal
investigators
activity was
ether extrac-
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KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
50
DEHYDRATE D ALFALFA
tion of clarified alfalfa juice. Their material, a yellow
line substance, inhibited muscle activity and may have
connection with bloat of cattle. It appeared to be 3', 4',
hydroxy-7 -met hoxyfla von e.
Minerals
Alfalfa contains a consider able qua ntity of some of the
erals essential to nutrition. They are generally overlo
when mention is made of the nutritive value of alfalfa but they
do play a part in the overall value of the product.
and Sill<er (86) analyzed a series of dehydrated alfalfa
ples obtained from mills in Kansas, Nebraska, and Mi
Included in the analyses were total ash, potassium,
phosph orus, magnesium , sodium, iron, manganese , boron,
copper. Table 12 presents the results of the analyses.
average value is ~iven as well as the range and the sta
deviations for each element.
The a lfalfa meal analyzed was ordinary mill run. The
therefore, represent the meal as sacked and sold and do
represent the analysis of the plant tissue only, since
metallic contaminat ion may have been picked up during
handling and processing of the alfalfa.
Two other elements have been determined on. alfalfa in
midwest, but n ot on the series reported in Table 12. Zinc (
in a series of Ramoles obtained in K~nsas averaged 35 ppm
20 samples. Values ranged from a l ow of 25 ppm to a
value of 89 ppm.
T ABLE 12.-Minera l Content of Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal * (86).
3.27
. 384
3.00
.280
.20
-
.43
.066
0.310
.18
-
1.07
.278
Na ...............
0.1 67
.118
Fe .. . ... .. ......
0.089
.025
-
Mn ··············
0. 0 0 59
B .......... ......
..............
················
2.60
1.78
Ca ···············
p ........... ......
1. 5 9
1.11
0.310
Mg ..............
K
Cu
.301
.0467
. 310
.0894
.0024-
.0108
.0025
0.0 047
. 003 2-
.0072
. 0011
Q.()Q?,'l
.QQU-
.()1.12.
.OH'6
•A\l data reported on dry weight bas i s .
51
bait content of a few samples of alfalfa was a lso de~
These samples came from eastern Kansas and averppm of cobalt. This figure should not be considered
e value for alfa lfa, however, since too few samples
ted.
also has been determined in still another series
analyzed at t h e Kansas Agricultural Experimen t
e molybdenu m content averaged 2.6 ppm. The
molybdenu m was 1.3 ppm to 4.9 ppm. This is well
·...... ·
other reports on molybdenu m.
.· ·.. are other mineral constituent s that have been identiquantities in al~alfa. Bear and Wallace (9) made
alfalfa from 11 states and found nickel, strontium,
·palladium in the samples in addition to tho~e premineral nutrition is necessary to produce good alyield and composit.o n may be affected by fertilizer
Bear a nd Wallace ( J ) suggested that the following
levels in the a!~alfa plant: potassium 1.4 perorus 0.27 percent, manganese 10 ppm, boron 20
a lso indicate that for longest life of the stand the
content of alfalfa should lie between 1.5 and 2.5 per~
er use of fertilizer may also cause changes in the
of component s other than the ash. Bear and \Val(9) that an increase in sugars, dextrins, and fatoccurred with increased potassium application s.
e, and Albrecht (88) have shown that the amino
of alfalfa is regulated in part by manganese and
· oi the essential trace elements.
( 36) of the Utah Agricultura l Experimen t Stathat fertilization of alfalfa significantl y increased
, and manganese content of alfalfa in Utah .
,~,....,~."'"'c"d that rabbits grew better on the hay produced
ized alfalfa.
·
':.'-'c~ ........., .... n..TION
OF DEHYDRA TED ALFALFA
Chicken. Rations
alfalfa has been used primarily in the preparafeeds for chickens. It usually has been used at
10 percent of the ration. In addition to carotene,
quantities of other known vitamins a lso are sup·. dehydrated alfalfa.
rtnnn't"' were made to raise the l evel of dehydrated
feeds it was found that aver age gain s in
slightly. For some time there existed doubt
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KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
as to the validity of these results. However, data now availabl
indicate that such effects do exist.
Alderson (2), using alfalfa meal at levels of 7.4 to 49.2
cent in chick rations, found that as alfalfa was increased,
consumption per pound of net gain increased and average
per chick decreased. At the highest level of alfalfa a
rate of 60 percent occurred.
Some thought had been expressed that the fiber content
the dehydrated alfalfa was responsible for the decreased
of growth encountered as the percentage of alfalfa in
tion increased. Cooney et al. (22) found, however, that
fed rations containing a fiber (Cellu Flour) did not substan
this theory, but indicated that there might be a factor
falfa meal which inhibited growth when fed at levels a
10 percent of the total ration.
Draper (26) compared sun-cured and dehydrated alfalfa
chick rations and reported beneficial results up to about
10 percent level. Above the 10 percent level the rate of
decreased. He reported no observable difference between
.
two types of meal. Earlier Payne, Caldwell, and Hughes (71 ·••
had reported that dehydrated alfalfa meal occasionally
·
duced a laxative condition in young chicks which was
produced by sun-cured alfalfa meal.
German and Couch (31) noted that the depressing factor
present in one meal and not in another. The depression
growth could not be overcome by the addition of copper (
element suspected of being too low) to the ration.
German and Couch (31), however, made the following
ment: " It is not felt that the observation reported as a
of these studies should in any way alter the use of
alfalfa leaf meal as a source of carotene for growing
and poults, because the high potency leaf meals now
are not ordinarily used at levels higher than 5 percent in
and poults' diets."
Lepkovsky et al. (59) also reported the presence of a gro
depressing factor in dehydrated alfalfa which could be
nated by exhaustive extraction of the meal with hot
The extracted meal had little growth-depressing activity,
the water extract produced marked inhibition of growth.
compound(s) responsible apparently were stable to a
ing. Alfalfa ash was not responsible for the effect,
growth inhibitor was probably organic in nature. Lep
also reported that the B-complex did n ot counteract the
Peterson (74) found the inhibitor to h ave hemolytic
ties, which were destroyed by boiling with cholesterol. Th
properties led Peterson to postulate that the inhibitor was
saponin. H e has shown recently (75) that adding a saponin
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
e chick rat ion caused growth depression similar
which results when alfalfa m eal is added to the rat ion.
Cooney, and Butts (55) carried out experimental
with sun-cured and dehydrated alfalfa in the rations
both were produced from the same field. They also t ried
additive agents in an attempt to deter mine if any deing action could b e counteracted. They r eported a defi. depr ession o: growth at a 20 percent level of alfalfa meal
· ··essentially no dif1erence between dehydrated or sun-cured
· They also r eported that fiber level apparently had no
since a bulky ration containing 40 percent mill run and
showed no depressing effect. A rat ion containing 20
alfalfa supplemented with 1 percent cholesterol connthe growth -depressing substance. Glycerol , butanol,
and vitamin supplements were ineffective,. thereby
the work of Peterson (74).
Turkey Rations
ted alfalfa is also being used in t urkey rations.
(69) has indicated t hat alfalfa is desirable in these
s, but suggests t hat coarse grinding may be preferred
.. fine grinding used for ·chickens. He also indicates that
20 percent alfalfa may be desirable in finishing rations
· 28 weeks) and in breeding flock rations. Adler (1) has
favorable results with 35 to 40 percent alfalfa leaf
turkeys over 8 weeks old. Above 50 percent some
depression wa s evident.
Swine P1·oduction
(57) has sho\vn the value of alfalfa meal i n swine
n. He reported that alfalfa meal in t h e ration in survival an.d proved to be the most adequate supplewhen young pigs were kept in a drylot. Growth rates
by the addition of alfalfa meal to the ration.
reported that 10 to 15 percent alfalfa meal should
um amount to include in drylot rations for preglactating sows and gilts. His r esults indicated the
of unknown factors in a lfalfa meal which were beneswine when fed in dry lots.
l;amb Production
ted alfalfa has been studied as a supplement in ra1CI;t,lt:JtuLL,; lambs. Warner et a!. (104) reported favorin experiments conducted at the Scottsbluff, Nebrasent station. Burkit t ( 1 8) a lso reported favorable r efeeding experiments on lamb fattening conducted at
tana Agricultural Experiment Station. He reported
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54
KANSAS BULLETIN 3 56
that 10 percent dehydrated alfalfa pellets in grain
increased the daily gain and that the feed required per
pounds of gain was decreased. With pellets at $70 per ton
lambs on dehydrated alfalfa returned $0.93 a head more
t hose getting no alfalfa.
Other Feed Uses
Other uses for alfalfa meal are known. Some dairies
alfalfa pellets to the rations. Dehydrated alfalfa is also
as a supplement in winter range feeding, and some is used
preparing certain food products for human consumption.
the nutritional value of dehydrated alfalfa is being
and its usefulness as a feed ingredient is being extended
all phases of poult ry and animal production.
Industrial T;tilization
Alfalfa is a source of many substances, a few of which ha
commercial value. Some processing of alfalfa as a source
carotene was under way severa l years ago (87). The
of synthetic vitamin A with a consequent reduction in
made processing of alfalfa for carotene less favorable
previously. Prices are still high enough, however, to
the search for economical methods of carotene
continue, particularly if such extraction could be a
more complete separation of commercially valuable su
Xanthophyll is useful in feeds as a material to impart
yellow co:·or to fat. Its separation and use as a naturally
curring coloring material has been carried out on a r elati
smail scale.
Chlorophyll has been used also in various forms, industri
part"e:ularly as a pigment, in pharmaceuticals and as a u.vvu.v • .c
izer. A chlorophyll-containing toot hpaste is now being
ke ted. It is possible that some of the waxes and sterols (
r eported in alfalfa may also have economic value. Still
other possibility is the use of alfalfa as a raw material in
preparation of protein concentrates.
At present the amount of alfalfa used as an industrial
material is limited. With proper research and develo
however, it appears that future uses of alfalfa in this .uH•cuu..~J
may become more and more favorable, since the research
this f:eld seem s to have just commen ced.
ANALYTICAL l>ROBLElfS
Determination or Carotene
The producer and buyer of dehydrated alfalfa are
most interested in two of the manv in!?:redients of the
drated -product , protein and carotene.' Most alfalfa meal
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
55
sold under guarantees for these two components. Methprotein analysis are quite well established, and although
can arise, t h e method is usually not at fault. The ingenerally uses the procedure adopted by the Association
Agricultural Chemists.
·.·•.. contrast to this situation with respect to protein, the
ds for carotene analysis have been the subject of cone study and almost continuous revision. As a result,
····· analyses have been subject to considerable variation be.· laboratories. Further research, however, will result
in an acceptable procedure. The following traces
ent of methods of carotene analysis up to the
time.
t methods of carotene analysis made cse of ,t he reof Borodin (14) who discovered t hat the carotene pigcould be separated into petroleum ether-soluble and
soluble fractions, with carotene being in the ether
Willstatter and Stoll (107) used this idea in their
of analysis reported in 1913, and numerous modificave followed. These early methods of analysis involved
of the lipid fraction of the plant material
ether, saponification in a lcoholic KOH, and extract he chlorophyllins thus formed. This was followed by
of a petroleum ether solution of the residue with
methyl alcohol in order to remove xanthophylls.
ene in the ether fraction then was determined quanby means of a colorimeter, although Sprague (93)
standard as a comparison. Guilbert (39) modified
e somewhat but still used the alcohol wash as a
removing the carotenols. He used Sprague's method
n for d etermining the concentration of carothe final solution. The Guilbert method was very w idely
several years.
, Hughes, and Freeman (76) modified the Guilbert
by eliminating the diethyl ether extraction and subdirect extraction of the alcoholic potassium hydroxide
mixture wit h petroleum ether. They suggested the
lysolve instead of petroleum ether in the procedure.
was the basis of a procedure tentatively approved
"''·'~........·"··"'-·'J., which was widely used.
with .all of these procedures was the uncercomplete removal of the non-carotene substances by
. separation with methanol. These pigments, if not
tend to give high readings for carotene. Also, if caro. removed completely from the methanol and transpetroleum ether fraction, erroneous results will
These uncertainties of extraction and separation
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56
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
suggested that another approach to the problem would
advisable.
Another method of separating closely related plant p
involves the adsorption and elution of such pigments from
suitable adsorbing agent. This method of separation was
demons trated by Tswett (100) in 1906, but only within a
the last 12 years has it been used for analytical purposes. S
then developments in adsorption techniques have been
It is possible to effect very efficient separation of plant
ments by proper choice of adsorbents and eluting agents.
most cases chlorophyll is most strongly adsorbed a nd
at the top of t h e adsorption column. The xanthophylls a re
in order, with t h e caroten es being least strongly a d
This technique of sevaration therefore requires adsorptio
the plant extract, followed by elution of all the carotene
none of the other pigments. The carotene must not be
strayed as a result of the adsorption and elut ion procedures.
A number of adsorbents and solvents for elution of pi
have been proposed. Kernahan (54) suggested hydrated
as an adsorbent, Kemmerer (52) used magnesium carbo
Moore (68) made use of dicalcium phosphate, and Wall
Kelley (103) made use of magnesium oxide. Fraps a nd
merer (30) r epor ted the su ccessful use of magnesium
ide, when properly prepared, as a good adsorbing agent.
(95) earlier had used magnesium oxide for a study of
pigments but had n ot used it specifically for analytical
poses. It has been shown that not all adsorbent s a r e
in their ca])acity to retain the pigments or to effect good
rations. Thus, not a ll are eaually effective when used f or
lytical purposes. F or examl,)l e, h ydr ated lime does not
effect\ve sepa.r ation r-f C'.-avoten e and the xa"lthophylls,
e;orors in analysis result when this adsorbent is used.
The dicalcium phosphate was especia!ly well adapted to
senaration of carotene from non-carotene pi~ments and
not cause destruction of carotene. As a_ result it r eceived
usage. Properly preparec"l m agnesium oxide was a lso found
be a verv satisfactory adsorbent. Since magnesium oxide .·•
quite uniform properties was commercially available, th!s ·
terial was sue;gested bv Wall and Kelly (103) fer u se in
caroten e procedure which they developed. At the present
this adsorbent is the most widely used, and is em ployed in
m ethod tentatively approved by the A.O.A.C.
As a r esult of the apparently successful application of
matographic methods to the separation of carotene from
plant pigm ents, many modifications of the origina l
developed. The A.O.A.C. began studying the use of
techniques in 1941 (52) , and in 1944 (6) first
DEHYDRATED ALFALFA
57
hie procedure for carotene, recommending the
urn hydroxide as the adsorbent. Nelson (70), howted out several problems still associated with carotene
and suggested furth er study. His suggestion
and further collaborative study led to a r ecomof magnesium oxide as the adsorbing agent in a
published in 1947 (7).
continued, however, and Quackenbush (78) reported
...v~·u~,uorative study involving instrument calibration, adsolvents, and check samples. This collaborative work
to the adoption of still furt her modifications in the
( 79) , but the essential character of the m ethod has
recently. Further modifications are still under in:sv•'" "'t.JuJtl. and in 1951 Quackenbush (80) reported on a, prosu~~geiStEld by Thompson and Bick off (99), who used an
"soaking" technique of extraction of carotene first
by Silker, Schrenk, and King (90). The r esults inthe soaking technique to be m or e effective than the A.
edure, with differences amounting to about 10 perua~;.~~..~:ubush (80 ) also suggested that the quantity of
to elute the carotene be increased. Work of this
continuing under the auspices of t he A.O.A.C. in an
develop the method further .
same time that the A.O.A.C. was actively engaged in
on carotene methods other workers kept pace in
laboratories. Silker, Schrenk, and King (90 ) rea method involving soaking the dehydrated a lfalfa
e of 30 percent acetone and 70 percent Skellysolve B
as a means of extraction. They used a magnesia
. .
a 4-percent acetone-Skellysolve B mixture for elut·. ··· carotene.
·:so.;Lu~•Jtot:: and Whitmore (108) reported on carotene in fresh
alfalfa. They suggested blanching the f r esh
storing in. a frozen condition until analyzed. Ex.. .· was accomplished with 40 percent acetone in a Wa ring
.· · .A magnesia column was used for adsorption, and 10
· · acetone was used for elution of carotene. F or dehy'"·"'' P.<•.LUPles they suggested extraction in a Coors procelain
thimble in an ASTM extraction apparatus. Ext r acued for t hree hours. The remainder of t he m ethod
e as for fresh material.
and King (64) suggested that fresh material be
dehydrated, with the procedure then being the
r dehydrated material. Sillter, Schrenk, and King
that carotene loss quring drying was n egligible
was first blanched. Mitchell and King verified
and further suggested t hat t he drying t emperatur e
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58
KANSAS BULLETIN 356
be held below 65<> C. Their method followed the Silker,
King procedure in other respects.
Thompson and Bickoff (99) also have s uggested =•LJuJtu\;<:1.~
tions in the carotene procedure recommended by the A.O.A.
T hey recommended soaking the sample over night in 30 p
cent acetone and Skellysolve B, followed by dilution of
solution with Skellysolve B to reduce the acetone concentrati
This is followed by chromatographing on a magnesia cu,luuuJ:;
They claim a coefficient of replication on a series of 10
ples of 1.4 percent. This procedure also has the disadvan
of requiring overnight soaking of the sample.
Pumpelly, Mitchell, and Silker (77) also have studied
proposed A.O.A.C. procedure. They reported that not all
the carotene is extracted by the A.O.A.C. technique, and
had difficulty elutin g all of the adsorbed carotene with
quantity of eluant recommended by th e A.O.A.C. As a result
their study, it appears that further collaborative work
be desirable before final recommendations are made.
The points now under consideration are primarily d
which must be considered individually when attempts are
ing made to develop an analytical procedure of high precisio .•
Resear ch is cen tered around chromatography as a means .
separating carotene from the other plant pigments. The
adsorbent under active consideration at present is the
magnesia previously mentioned. This adsorbent seems
satisfactory, but since adsorbents are lmown to· vary sl
from one batch to another, it probably would be advisable
check each new batch for uniformity before use.
Detection of Sun-cured Alfalfa in Dehydrated Alfalfa
A method for the detection of sun-cured a lfalfa in d
alfalfa has been developed recently by Brew (16). Since
rules of the American Dehydrators' Association do n ot
use of the term " dehydrated" for a mixed product, such an
lytical procedure is desirable.
Essentially the m ethod is based on the change in sol
of the protein fraction caused by the high temperature of
hydration. Brew states that if sun-cured alfalfa is pre
excess of 10 percent, its presence is readily detectable.
mentions, however, that the reliability of the test is 1
to dehydrated alfalfa produced by high temperat ure de
tion since in a few cases where alfalfa was dehydrated
belt' ty pe, low temperature unit the test was un
Since most dehydrated alfalfa is produced at high temp
however, the t est should prove qui~e useful in most cases
adulteration is suspected.
DEHYDRATE D ALFALFA
59
. ACKNOWLEDGlliENT
Research at Kansas State College on dehydrated alfalfa as
as the preparation of this bulletin would net have been
ble without the assistance of many people and the finan.. support of several organizations.
encouragement and assistance of the late Dr. H. H. King,
head of the Department of Chemistry a t Kansas State
must be acknowledged. He, with others, took an active
the formation of the .Kansas Industrial Development
.u .u o<>J.vu. The financial assistance of this group initiated
tion project a t Kansas State College, and their
support has been of great aid in the development of
dehydration industry.
financial assistance and en couragement has come from
Dehydrators' Association. The co-operation and
of former Director R. I. Throckmorton of the
Agricultu:ral Experiment Station was invaluable. The
of individual members of the Kansas Agricultural Experi-.
Station and of members of the United States Department
should a lso be acknowledged. The assistance of
alfalfa dehydrators has been excellent and they also
ontr ibuted greatly to the research.
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·
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62
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