USDA, APHIS, Field Servicing Office, Butler Square, Fifth Floor, 100 North Sixth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55403

73 -- ROTARY DEPOSITOR SOL S-M-APHIS-3-97 POC POC: Robert J. Crowther is the Contracting Officer. He can be reached at 612/370-2115 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), Pink Bollworm Rearing Facility (PBWRF), Phoenix, Arizona, is conducting a feasibility study with rotary depositors as a method of forming PBW diet after processing with a twin screw extruder. The company providing the equipment for testing is Berndorf Belt Systems, 12005 Panorama Drive, Fountain Hills, Arizona 85268. The size of the equipment to be tested is 24 inches wide by 30 feet overall length, with 20 feet cooling length, a 24 inch wide Accudrop and NC31 belt. The purpose of the testing is to determine if a rotary depositor could be used to shape or form pink bollworm (PBW) diet as it is extruded from a twin screw extruder into a ready to use form. Two (2) parameters will be examined; (1) How well the insect feeds on diet formed using this technology, and (2) The handling characteristics of the diet formed as it relates to conveying and filling trays used in the rearing of PBW moth. Interested manufacturers or their authorized distributors are encouraged to contact Bob Crowther, Contracting Officer, at (612) 370-2115 for additional information and to arrange to have their equipment tested and considered in the feasibility study. (0257)

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