| 摘要 |
A self-contained hydroponic growing enclosure and method for the fabrication of animal feed grass from seed is described. The enclosure is a self-contained enclosure which is insulated and which can be transported or assembled on site and which is independent of outside climatic conditions. Seed is stored in an isolated portion of the enclosure and fed to germination tanks in predetermined quantities where the seeds are germinated for a predetermined period of time. The tanks are then drained of their iodine-treated water and the germinated seeds are placed in predetermined quantities onto trays which are placed at an inlet end of a racking system. Trays are removed with grown grass at a harvest outlet end of the racking system in the same sequence as they are placed at the inlet end, so that there is a continuous daily supply of feed grass. Light walls are provided on opposed sides of the racking system to illuminate the beds. Conditioned air is also convected through the racking system from the inlet end to the outlet harvest end and the air flow distributes carbon dioxide generated in an inlet end section by the germinating seed grain, over the entire growing beds. The beds are also sprayed with water and the air flow is reconditioned by an air conditioning unit, filtered to remove bacteria and recirculated through the racking system. More specifically, the production system uses feed-quality barley for growing in tray beds to produce approximately 2,200 pounds of feed grass per day in a 7-day cycle from seed to feed.
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