Bioenergy Model of Plant Raw Materials and Assessment of Feed Production Technologies

It is noted that the effectiveness of the technological processes in agriculture is usually evaluated according to economic, operational and relative criteria. Such an estimate often proves to be inaccurate for solving applied problems. The functioning of the biotechnical system "operator – feed – machine – animal" reveals this discrepancy to the highest extent. The paper confirms the necessity and relevance of a fact-based analysis of energy flows in the biotechnical system, as well as the energy flows interaction with each other and with the external environment. (Research purpose) To substantiate a methodological approach to assessing the fodder production efficiency based on a bioenergetic analysis of fodder production technologies. (Materials and methods) The research involves the comparative analysis of exchange energy accumulation by plants before harvesting and the parameters of its reduction in the plant raw materials, taking into account technological impacts. (Results and discussion) It is obtained that a one-megajoule input of mechanical energy in the cultivation of cereal-grass forage mixtures provides 121 megajoules of exchange energy. The exchange energy content in the cereal-grass forage mixture is calculated to be 44,850 megajoules per hectare (1950 megajoules per ton) while the specific mechanical energy consumption amounts to 370.6 megajoules per hectare (16.1 megajoules per ton) for the feed mixture cultivation. (Conclusions) It is established that the dynamics of energy accumulation during the vegetable raw material cultivation and the character of a decrease in its energy content during fodder preparation and storage have a sustainable common trend. The growth trend of energy accumulation is proved to have a linear character for both various types of fodder crops and the decrease in the feed energy content. Efficiency assessment criteria are proposed for the mechanical energy consumption during fodder crop cultivation, plant material processing and feed storage. A mathematical model is developed making it possible to study implicit variables in a complex system of accumulation and entropy of feed exchange energy, take optimal engineering decisions to justify and improve the technologies for feed cultivation, harvesting and preparation, as well as its effective use.