Sunflower oil seed coarse meal is one of the products after sunflower oil production; it is a result of pressing and further extraction of sunflower seeds. Pressing is a process of pushing the oil from the sunflower seeds. And extraction is collection of the residual oil after seeds pressing using organic solvents. The final sunflower oil seed coarse meal after pressing contains 1.5-2% of residual oil. The sunflower oil seed coarse meal density is 600 kg/m³.
The sunflower oil seed coarse meal contains up to 2% of oil and 30-42% of protein and fibre. Also, sunflower oil seed coarse meal contains phosphoros, B and E vitamins and other minerals. Being rich in methionine, sunflower oil seed coarse meal has a positive impact on young stock growth and development. Unlike sunflower cake, sunflower oil seed coarse meal contains much more crude protein. Sunflower oil seed coarse meal has some peelings but not more than 16%, it is also possible to produce peelings-free sunflower oil seed coarse meal. The contents has lysine deficit but sunflower oil seed coarse meal virtually has no anti-nutritional substances unlike other types of oil seed coarse meal. Compared to soya oil seed coarse meal, sunflower oil seed coarse meal arabinoxylans index is 117 which provides for fast protein digestion. Also, sunflower oil seed coarse meal contains much more B vitamin than soya one.
If sunflower oil seed coarse meal is used for animal feed it increases the animal productivity and improves the quality of animal products. For example, the cows produce more milk per day with higher fat content. The main consumers of sunflower oil seed coarse meal are birds, namely broiler chicks. It can be used for chicks older than 7 days. Unlike other types of oil seed coarse meal, sunflower meal is highly-resistant to micotoxins which excludes any possible damage from its use. For chicken farming it is recommended to use oil seed coarse meal with minimal amount of peelings.
It is equally important to understand the amount to be used for feeding. The quality of sunflower oil seed coarse meal depends on the amount of envelopes. It contains around 18% of crude fiber and it is a limitation factor for feeding pigs. So, in this case sunflower oil seed coarse meal needs to be enriched by other additives. Sunflower oil seed coarse meal is very rich in methionine. Young stock can be fed up to 1-1.5 kg of sunflower oil seed coarse meal, cows - 2.5-3 kg, pigs - up to 0.5-1.5 kg. Laying chickens can be fed up to 35g of sunflower oil seed coarse meal per bird and in winter - up to 10g. The specific gravity of the sunflower oil seed coarse meal is 0.6 g/m³. It can be fed dry after blending or wet soaked right before feeding.