The Role of Starch in Feed

1. Adsorption properties and their applications (fillers)

    Starch can be used as a diluent (or filler) in feed additive products to fill and disperse active ingredients in feed additive products to increase their weight or volume, facilitate formulation molding and dispersion, and further make powders , granules and pellets, etc.

    When starch is used as diluent, corn starch is commonly used. It has very stable properties, does not work with most ingredients, and is relatively cheap. It has low hygroscopicity and good appearance and color. In actual production, it is often combined with other fillers Additives or diluents such as: calcium carbonate, corn cob powder, bran powder, etc., can further reduce the cost and use effect of the product.

 2. Solubility, gelatinization and cohesion (adhesives)

    Starch granules are insoluble in cold water, damaged starch or chemically modified starch is soluble in cold water, but the swelling starch after dissolution is irreversible. As the temperature rises, the expansion degree of starch increases, and the solubility increases, and the starch granules suddenly expand rapidly when the temperature continues to rise, and the volume can reach dozens or even hundreds of times of the original, and the suspension becomes a translucent viscous colloidal solution. , this phenomenon is called the gelatinization of starch, the gelatinized starch has adhesiveness, and is often used as a binder in the preparation of feed additive products

3. Swelling capacity (disintegrant)

    When starch milk is heated, the starch granules expand. For different types of starch, the granule expansion ability is different. Heat the starch milk sample in a water bath at a certain temperature for 30 min, then centrifuge, pour out the supernatant, and weigh the precipitated particles. The ratio of the weight of the precipitated particles after starch expansion to the original dry starch weight is called the swelling capacity.

    Used as disintegrants: disintegrants are substances that quickly break tablets into fine particles in gastrointestinal fluids. Except for slow (controlled) release tablets and some special-purpose tablets, general tablets A disintegrant should be added to the formulation.