A Method for Determining and Expressing the
Size of Feed Particles by Sieving1
R. A. WILCOX, C. W. DEYOE AND H. B. PFOST
Kansas Stale University, Manhattan, Kansas 66502
T HERE has long been a need for a
method of measuring and expressing
the size of feed particles. General terms
such as "coarse", "medium" or "fine"
are ill-defined at best and subject to varia-
tion in usage. References to hammermill
screen size are relatively descriptive, but
the resulting particle size varies widely
because of factors such as hammer speed,
extent of wear on hammer and screen,
screen area, air flow, method of discharge,
kind of grain, moisture content of grain
and other variables (Baker and Farrell,
1961; Stevens and Pfost, 1962).
A direct measure of the feed particles is
obviously more practical than attempting
to stabilize the factors that influence the
fineness of grind. Two previous measures
of feed particle size have been adopted by
the American Society of Agricultural
Engineers (1961) and the American So-
ciety of Animal Science. The method
given in this paper is a refinement of the
previous methods which has been adopted
by the ASAE as ai official method. The
method as printed in the Agricultural
Engineers Yearbook, 1969 edition, pages
346-347 is reproduced below.
ASAE Standard: ASAE S319
Contribution No. 718, Department of Grain
Science and Industry, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas 66502.
1 6
The Executive Committee of the Poultry Sci-
ence Association decided that this method should be
published, with explanatory statements and ex-
amples, in Poultry Science, and that its use by con-
tributors to the journal be recommended. However
official adoption of the method was not considered
advisable at this time.—Editor.
9
METHOD OF DETERMINING AND
EXPRESSING FINENESS OF FEED
MATERIALS BY SIEVING
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Proposed by a subcommittee of the American Feed
Manufacturers Association; Approved by the ASAE
Electric Power and Processing Division Technical
Committee; Adopted by ASAE, December, 1968.
Section 1—Purpose and Scope
1.1 The purpose of this standard is to define a
test procedure to determine the fineness of feed
ingredients and to define a method of expressing the
particle size of the material. The particle size de-
termined can be used to calculate surface area and
number of particles per unit weight.
1.2 This standard shall be used to determine the
fineness of feed ingredients where the reduction
process yields particles which are essentially spher-
ical or cubical. It is not adequate to define the par-
ticle size of materials such as steamed and rolled
grains which are a flaked product, or products,
such as chopped hay, where a substantial fraction
consists of elongated particles.
Section 2—Test Equipment
2.1 A set of woven-wire cloth sieves having a
diameter of 8 in. (203 mm.) shall be used. With-the
most common shaking equipment, sieves having a
height of 1 in. (25 mm.) or half-height sieves are
most suitable to avoid the necessity of resieving the
finer fraction. A set of sieves as specified in American
Society for Testing and Materials E l l , Standard
Specifications for Sieves for Testing Purposes (also
designated United States of America Standard
Z23.1) shall consist of the following sizes:
U. S. Standard Nominal Sieve Opening
Sieve No. mm. in.*
4 4.76 0.187
3.36 0.132
8 2.38 0.0937
12 1.68 0.0661
16 1.19 0.0469
20 0.841 0.0331
30 0.595 0.0234
* Only approximately equivalent to the values given in
millimeters.
10 R. A. WILCOX, C. W. DEYOE AND H. B. PFOST

40 0.420 0.0165 sedimentation testing, and such analysis shall be

50 0.297 0.0117
reported separately.
70 0.210 0.0083
100 0.149 0.0059
0.105 Section 4—Data Analysis
140 0.0041
200 0.074 0.0029 4.1 Analysis of weight distribution data of all
270 0.053 0.0021 ground feeds and feed ingredients are based on the
assumption that these distributions are logarithmic
2.2 A suitable sieve shaker, such as a Ro-tapf, is normally distributed.
required. 4.2 Calculation of particle size.
2.3 A balance having an accuracy of at least + 0.1 4.2.1 The size of particles shall be reported in
grams shall be used. terms of geometric mean diameter and geo-
1.4 Sieve agitators such as plastic or leather metric standard deviation by weight.

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rings, or small rubber balls may be required to 4.2.2. Calculated values are obtained as
break up agglomerates on finer sieves, usually those follows:
smaller than U.S. No. 50.
2.5 A dispersion agentf should be available to dgW = lOg
facilitate sieving of high fat or similar materials.
2.6 Sieve openings must be kept free of feed
particles so that normal sieving can be accomplished. -£*r<(iog&-iog<w-i "2
Sgw = lOg
A stiff bristle sieve cleaning brush, or compressed
air, is useful for cleaning sieves which have become
where
clogged with feed particles. Sieves must be cleaned
di = diameter of sieve openings of the i'th
periodically to remove oil. Oil can be removed by
sieve
washing with water containing a detergent. Sieves
dt+1 = diameter of openings in next larger
must be dried before use.
than t'th sieve (just above in a set)
Section 3—Method of Sieving d„w=geometric mean diameter
Ri = geometric mean diameter of particles
3.1 A sample size of 100 grams should be used on i'th sieve
although smaller samples may be used if extra care = (diXdw)i
is taken to recover all material from the sieves. S„w=geometric standard deviation
3.2 Place the sample on the top sieve of the set Wi=weight fraction on i'th sieve
of sieves and shake until the weight of material,
4.2.3 Material passing U.S. Sieve No. 270
on the smallest sieve which contains any material,
shall be considered to have a mean diameter of
reaches equilibrium. Equilibrium shall be deter-
44 microns.
mined by inspecting and weighing at five-minute
4.2.4 Graphical solutions for geometric mean
intervals after an initial sieving time of ten minutes.
diameter and log-normal geometric standard
If the weight on the smallest sieve containing any
deviation may be obtained by plotting results
material changes by 0.2 percent or less of the total
on logarithmic probability graph paper. Fig-
sample weight during a five-minute period the
ure 1 shows an example where:
sieving shall be considered complete at the onset of
the previous period. dav,=d^ =particle diameter at 50 percent probability
3.3 Material on all sieves shall be weighed and _ ^84 _ dw
recorded. dy> dn
3.4 If a dispersing agent is required, it should be
=particle size at 84 percent probability/d sw
added at a level of 0.5 percent, and its effect on
particle size need not be recorded. =i T O /particle diameter at 16 percent probability
3.5 If 20 percent or more of the material by
weight passes the smallest sieve, the fine material
d„w = 350 microns
shall be subjected to a nonsieving particle size
analysis, such as microscopic measurement or and
640 _ 350
Saw 1<83
~ 350 " m "
t Registered trade name.
j Dispersion agents include Cab-O-Sil MS available from EXAMPLES OF USE IN METHODS
the Cabot Corp., Boston; Ziolex 23A and Zeofree 80 available
from the J. M. Huber Corp., New York; and Flo-Gard available
from the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., St. Louis. Example 1 is for grain ground in a
 F E E D PARTICLE SIZE 11

hammermill through a 1/8" screen. The 99.9 j - , .

ground material was sampled using

9 9 -- -
A.O.A.C. sampling procedures (1960) as
the guide for obtaining a representative 95 - -
o 90 - A
sample. A 100-gram sub-sample was
taken for sieve analysis. j 80 -
- / 'l
:
For practical purposes sieves numbers A i
50 . •J\ i .
4 and 6 can be omitted whenever there is
small likelihood of significant amounts > 2 0 -- -
a 10 - -
of particles having a diameter greater I '
E \A i i

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than 2.4 mm (ca 0.1 inch). The 100-gram 5 i '
u -
t
-
sample was placed on the top sieve and i (

the sieve shaker was operated for ten 1

minutes. (Note: Ten minutes is usually
sufficient for ground cereal grains and
solvent extracted oil meals. Mixtures
having added fat, oil or molasses, or hav-
ing high fat or moisture content may need
a dispersing agent or a preliminary treat-
ment, such as fat extraction, as a requisite
for satisfactory sieving.)
The amounts of ground grain collected
on each sieve are shown in Table 1. (Table
1 is a form used by Kansas State research-
ers to facilitate recording of data and the
calculation of the geometric mean diam-
eter and geometric standard deviation.)
The formulas for the calculation of
geometric mean diameter and the stan-
dard deviation are shown in Table 1 and
were derived by Headly and Pfost (1966).
The value of Sgw was calculated to be
2.26 and is used to calculate the major
particle size range by:
dgw (84 percentile) = dgw X Sgw
= 595 X 2.26
= 1,345 microns
595
dgw (16 percentile) =
2.26
= 263 microns
This means that 68% of the ground
corn particles are within the size range
of 263 to 1,345 microns with the mean
$( M i l i 1 1 1 1 in i n i i i
.0.1 5 0 100 5001000 50OO
Particle sized, microns
Fig. 1. Lognormal distribution for sorghum
grain ground through 1.8" screen.
diameter being 595 microns.
The sieving data can also be plotted on
log probability graph paper (31376-
Codex Book Co.) plotting the micron size
for the individual screens against the
cumulative weight of samples (beginning
with the finest fraction and progressing
toward the coarser as given by 100- % ) .
The form shown in Table 2 gives an
example of the same ground corn data
that was used in Table 1.
The data when plotted will lie in an
approximate straight line as shown in
Figure 1. Two perpendicular lines repre-
senting 16 percent and 84 percent cumu-
lative sample weights are drawn to inter-
sect the micron diameter axis giving the
graphic deminsions of geometric standard
variation. A perpendicular line from the
50% cumulative sample weight will indi-
cate the geometric mean diameter.
The geometric mean diameter by the
graph method using the data in Table 2
is approximately 580 microns with the
range being from 270 to 1,150 microns for
68% of the material. This compares favor-
ably with the calculated values of 260 and
1,345 respectively.
12 R. A. WILCOX, C. W. DEYOE AND H. B. PFOST

TABLE 1.—Form for calculation of geometric mean diameter and geometric standard deviation
Test No. Example 1 Material Corn

U.S. d mi- Wi
Standard gms log di Wi log di (log di (log di W{(log di
crons
sieve # -log dlw) -log dsw)2 — l o g <Z„„,)2
4 4760 3.753
6 3360 3.602
8 2380 4.0 3.452 13.808 .680 .4624 1.850
12 1680 5.2 3.301 17.165 .527 .2777 1.444
16 1190 9.9 3.149 31.175 .375 .1406 1.392
20 841 14.5 3.000 43.500 .226 .0510 .740
30 595 19.8 2.849 56.410 .075 .0056 .111

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40 420 13.5 2.699 36.437 .075 .0056 .076
50 297 12.0 2.549 30.588 .225 .0506 .607
70 210 10.2 2.398 24.460 .495 .2450 2.499
100 149 6.7 2.248 15.062 .526 .2767 1.854
140 105 3.7 2.097 7.759 .677 .4583 1.696
200 74 0.4 1.944 .778 .830 .6889 .276
270 53 1.799
Pan 1.643
Summation 99.9 xxxx 277.142 xxxxxx xxxxxx 12.545

E Wi log dj __ 277.142 _ 2.774 595 .

lOg dgW = dnW = microns
£PFi ~~ 99.9

E Wi (log di - log dawy 12.545 .1255

(log.SV„)2 =
£ff( 99.9
.345 2.26
logS,„ =

SUMMARY expressing the size distribution should

The method for determining particle prove to be a valuable procedure in
size by sieving and the parameters of evaluating the effect of feed particle size
on nutritional evaluations.
TABLE 2.—-Form for graphic determination of
Geometric mean diameter and geometric REFERENCES
standard deviation
American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1961.
U.S. Method of determining modulus of uniformity
%of 100- and modulus of fineness of ground feed, 1961
Standard d microns Wi gms total
sieve § E% Agricultural Engineers Yearbook, p. 126.
Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, 1960.
4 4760 Methods of Analyses, Ninth edition, p. 283.
6 3360 100.00 Baker, R. J., and E. P. Farrell, 1961. Factors that
8 2380 4.0 4.0 96.0 affect the granulation and capacity in grinding
12 1680 5.2 9.2 90.8 corn, oats, and sorghum grain with a hammermill,
16 1190 9.9 19.1 80.9
20 841 14.5 33.6 66.4 Feedstuffs, 33, No. 13: p. 26-29, 32.
30 595 19.8 53.4 46.6 Headley, V. E., and H. B. Pfost, 1966. Describing
40 420 13.5 66.9 33.1 particle size distribution of feedstuff statistically,
50 297 12.0 78.9 21.1 Feedstuffs, 38, No. 44; p. 50-53 (part 2 of Feed
70 210 10.2 89.1 10.9
100 149 6.7 95.8 4.2 Mixing Reprint Series).
140 105 3.7 99.5 0.5 Stevens, C. A., and H. B. Pfost, 1962. Hammermill
200 74 0.4 99.9 0.1 performance, Feed Age, 13, No. 4: p. 2-8.
270 53 Note: The Feed Mixing Reprint Series consists of
Pan
Summation 99.9 xxxx xxx the following articles:
Part 1. Criteria for Evaluating Feed Mixer Per-
 F E E D PARTICLE SIZE 13

formance; Harry B. Pfost. lated Equipment; Harry B. Pfost,

Part 2. Describing Particle Size Distribution of
Feedstuffs Statistically; Verl E. Headley
and Harry B. Pfost.
Part 3. Physical Characteristics of Feed In-
gredients; Harry B. Pfost, Charles W.
Deyoe, Carl A. Stevens and Edward J.
Morgan.
Part 4. Testing Feed Mixtures, Mixers and Re-
Charles W. Deyoe, Carl A. Stevens and
Edward J. Morgan.
Part 5. Testing and Performance of a Vertical
Twin Screw Mixer; Harry B. Pfost,
Charles W. Deyoe, Edward J. Morgan,
Carl A. Stevens and Roshan Chaddha.
The five-part series is available from Feedstuffs,
P. 0. Box 67, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440.

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The Effect of Dried Fruit of Solatium Sodomaeum on
Japanese Quail and S.C. White Leghorn
Cockerel Chicks1
E R N E S T R O S S AND H O W A R D H. FTJRUMOTO 2

Animal Science Department, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822

(Received for publication July 22. 1969)

B O V I N E arteriosclerosis or "Naalehu
disease" reported from Hawaii (Lynd
el al., 1965) is believed to be similar to
" E n t e q u e seco" of South America and
Manchester wasting disease reported from
Jamaica (Arnold and Bras, 1956). Worker
and Carrillo (1967) implicated Solatium
malacoxylon as a possible contributing
factor to " E n t e q u e seco" in the Argentine
and reported t h a t as little as 5 g. of the
dry m a t t e r was sufficient to produce
changes in blood calcium and phosphorus
of 900 lb. heifers. I n view of the report b y
Worker and Carrillo (1967), Solatium so-
domaeum L., which is found in abundance
where bovine arteriosclerosis is endemic
in Hawaii, m a y be an etiologic factor.
T h e toxicity of S. sodomaeum to Japa-
nese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)
and W. L. chicks was studied to determine
their suitability as experimental animals
in evaluating t h e toxic factor or factors. ..
1
Journal Series No. 1091 of the Hawaii Agri-
cultural Experiment Station.
2 nous inclusion of the dried meals at the
Present address: Care Animal Medical Center,
Honolulu, Hawaii.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
T h e ripe fruit of S. sodomaeum was
either oven dried at 50°C. in a forced-air
oven or freeze-dried. T h e dried materials
were ground and stored at room tempera-
ture. Kjeldahl nitrogen was determined
and the crude protein calculated to be
14.7 and 15.3%, respectively, for oven-
and freeze-dried fruit. T h e dried fruit
powders were highly irritating to h u m a n s ,
causing itching and burning sensation of
the skin, rash, sneezing, runny nose and
eyes and headache. Symptoms generally
lasted for several hours.
T h e stock diet contained (in percentage):
corn, 44; soybean meal ( 4 4 % protein),
35.65; dehydrated alfalfa ( 1 7 % protein),
3; tuna meal ( 5 5 % protein), 5; m e a t and
bone meal ( 4 5 % protein), 5; defiuorinated
phosphorus, 3.5; ground oyster shell, 3 ;
salt, 0.25; DL-methionine, 0 . 1 ; a n d micro-
ingredient premix, (Ross and Enriquez,
1969) 0.5. T h e corn and soybean meal
were adjusted to permit the isonitroge-
2 0 % and 4 0 % level.- Lower levels were