Pelleting is an energy-demanding process that is carried out on many animal feeds to assure a large macro-structure and thus improved handling properties and a high and homogenous feed intake. Due to the heat applied during conditioning and pelleting, some chemical alterations may take place. Proteins are to some extent denatured, and this will potentially improve nutritional value through inactivation of proteinous antinutrients, although may contribute negatively through inactivation of exogenous enzymes. Only a small fraction of the starch will be gelatinised, and pelleting will not affect starch digestibility to any considerable extent. Some vitamins, however, may be destroyed during the pelleting process, and viscosity of soluble fibres may increase.
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Svihus et al. (2011) studied this question.
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