There are many heat treatment applications, each different in the heat source, construction of the device or process parameters applied, and their efficiency depends on a range of factors. There are many possible combinations, and types of heat treatments in animal feed processing, and most frequently used are pelleting, extrusion, cooking, steam flaking, conditioning, expanding, roasting, popping, toasting and micronisation. Thermal processing increase feed intake and digestibility, improve feed conversion, carcass quality and/or yield grade, reduce in feed waste, transportation, storage costs and labor costs. The heat acts in the same manner as natural digestive enzymes to break down the complex carbohydrate bonds of the grain starch (i.e. gelatinize), which increases the availability of nutrients such as glucose in the small intestine. However, the heat technology used can destroy germs contaminating the oilseeds and remove certain anti-nutritional (antitrypsin factors in whole soya beans, rapeseed glucosinolates) and enzymatic factors (lipases and lipoxidases involved in the oxidation of oils for example).

Keywords: Thermal processing; Heat applications; Feed and food processing.