Energy and Operation Cost of the Production of Fresh, Crushed and Grounded Forage

Abstract

The objective of the work was to develop a revision of the main researches carried out in Cuba, and at international level, on the cost of energy and of exploitation of the machinery used for the production of fresh, crushed and grounded forage. The livestock is not adapted physically to be feeding with of forage plants of great size and less when these they are of thick shaft as king-grass, sorghum, corn, sugar cane, moringa, mulberry, tithonia and other similar ones. For such a reason it is required that these plants be previously chopped before being given as fresh food, for what is necessary the development of mechanized technologies for the processing of the forage of the different types, with view to the creation of a national alimentary base for the livestock, what allows the substitution of imports of concentrated foods. Few researches related with the machinery are carried out in Cuba for the forage production to feeding the livestock, and for an adequate adaptation to the conditions of the country, since the determination of the technological indicators, energy costs and of exploitation of the machines, constitute fundamental parameters to keep in mind to arrive to the obtaining of an suitable productive process and with more efficiency. In the energy balance, two groups are settled down: 1 - Required energy, associated to the production of the mechanical equipment and the contained in the used materials, as well as 2 - Required energy, associated to the fungible products not recoverable, such as fuels, fertilizers, seeds, herbicides, etc.