EXERCISE NO: 02 AN-201(Pr)

Determination of moisture content in feed/feed ingredients

 Moisture
 After drying, the loss of weight in a feed/ ingredient is called as moisture
 The percentage (%) of water (liquid) percent in a solid sample
 Important of moisture determination
 Determination of moisture is important for number of different reasons like labeling,
texture, taste, appearance, quality, stability and weight loss.
 The weight above the normal range may cause the loss in weight and also leads to
economical losses.
 Furthermore, high moisture (%) decreases the stability of the ingredient or feed due
to high risk of fungal diseases and toxicity.
 Equipments and glasswares used in moisture determination
 Hot air oven
 Desiccator
 Electric weighing balance
 Pertri dishes/ Crucible cups
 Spatula
 Grinded sample
 Process:
 Take a petri dish or crucible cup and weight on weighing electronic balance and note
the reading as W1
 Add upto 3-5 gram of grinded sample in weighed Petri dish and again note the
reading as W2
 Keep the Petri dish with sample in hot air oven at 1050C for 2-3 hrs until the all
moisture is removed.
 Remove the Petri dish from hot air oven and place in a desiccator for 10-15 minutes
to cool the sample.
 After cooling weight, again the Petri dish with sample and note the reading as W3
 Now calculate moisture content with the help of given formula.
  Calculations: Moisture (%)= W2-W3 x 100
W1-W2

Example M (%)= 49.443-48.292 =1.151 x 100= 10.21

38.175-49.443 =11.268
Note:
 W1- Empty weight of Pertri dish/cruicible cup =38.175
 W2 – Weight of Petri dish + Sample weight (Before drying) =49.443
 W3- Weight of Petri dish + Sample weight (After drying) =48.292