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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is estimating world soybean production in the 2017/2018 market year will be 346.02 million metric tons. Three countries, Brazil, Argentina and the U.S., are projected to produce over 82% of the world’s soybeans. The United States soybean production estimate is 119.52 million metric tons, or 4,382 million bushels.

Table 1. World Soybean Production (2017/2018)

It is revealing to chart the world production of soybeans. The second chart shows the total world production versus use level. As one can see the world growth of soybeans has been impressive; growth has increased by about 350% since 1987. The commercial growth of livestock and poultry is probably closely correlated with this growth. Soybeans are supplying the world a needed source of protein and oil required for growth.

World Soybean – Production vs Usage

Table 2. World Soybean Meal Use by Country (2017/2018)

Each year Evonik Industries updates a comprehensive report characterizing the composition of the U.S. soybean meal. Samples of the feed ingredients are supplied to the Evonik Health & Nutrition group by feed formulators. Their laboratory analyzes the soybean meal samples and reports values for the various geographical regions that supply the feed industry. The soybean meal data are representative for the 2017 crop year and are segmented by region.

The 2017 soybean meal has a crude protein value of 46.1% and is consistent with trends of lower crude protein levels. This year’s meal values range from 45.9% for the Western Corn Belt to 46.8% for the Southeast. Again this year variation in amino acid levels is extremely consistent.

The apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and net energy (NE) values of soybean meal (SBM) and dehulled soybean meal (DSBM) were determined in experiments with male broilers. The composition of the SBM and DSBM was 91.4%, 45,4%, 1.56% and 4,210 kcal/kg; and 91.5%, 47.5, 0.95% and 4050 kcal/kg for dry matter, crude protein, fat and gross energy, respectively. The test soybean meals replaced twenty-five percent of the corn basal diet. The results of this experiment indicated average AME and NE content was 2,492 and 1,581 kcal/kg (DM basis) for SBM, and 2,580 and 1,654 kcal/kg (DM basis) for DSBM, respectively.

The objective of this study was to determine whether there are differences in prececal amino acid digestibility between commonly used slow- and fast-growing broiler strains when the regression approach is applied. A slow- and fast-growing broiler strain was selected and provided experimental diets with soybean meal included at levels of 0, 100, and 200 g/k ad libitum consumption. Each treatment was tested with six pens comprising 10 birds each. Digesta samples were collected on a pen basis and prececal amino acid digestibility of soybean meal was calculated by linear regression.

The results indicated that the prececal crude protein and amino acid digestibility of soybean meal did not differ significantly between strains; the values were numerically almost identical. The results of this study provide evidence of the transferability between broiler strains of prececal amino acid digestibility data, determined using the regression approach, thus improving the accuracy of diet formulation without drawbacks.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) and the concentration of metabolizable energy (ME) in soy protein concentrate (SPC) ground to three particle sizes and in soybean meal and fish meal when fed to weanling pigs. An additional experiment was conducted to determine effects of including SPC in diets on growth performance when fed to weanling pigs.

In the first experiment, diets containing soybean meal, fish meal, or SPC ground to a mean particle size of 70, 180, or 700 μm as the only source of AA were fed to weanling barrows weighing about 13kg that had a T-cannula installed in the ileum. In the second experiment, 36 barrows weighting about 13.7kg were allotted to a corn-based diet or diets containing corn and soybean meal, fish meal, or SPC ground to the three particle sizes. In the third experiment, 160 pigs weighing about 7 kg were allotted to 4 dietary treatments and 8 pens per treatment with 5 pigs per pen. Diets included a control diet containing fish meal and spray dried plasma protein and diets in which fish meal, spray dried plasma protein, or both fish meal and spray dried plasma protein were replaced by SPC ground to 180 μm.

Results indicated that the SID of lysine tended to be greater in SPC ground to 180 μm than in soybean meal and that the SID of arginine and tryptophan were greater (P ‹ 0.05) in SPC ground to 70 or 180 μm than in SPC ground to 700 μm. There were no differences in the ME among corn, soybean meal, fish meal, and SPC. The ME of SPC ground to 70, 180, or 700 μm was 3,683, 3,903, and 3,886 kcal/kg DM, respectively. Substitution of spray dried plasma protein and fish meal by SPC ground to 180 μm in diets had no effect on pig growth performance. The researchers concluded that reducing the particle size of SPC may improve digestibility of some indispensable AA but did not affect concentration of ME.

Two studies were conducted to determine whether soybean meal (SBM) use in nursery pig diets could be increased by superdosing with phytase. In the first experiment, 2,550 pigs weighing about 5.5 kg were used to evaluate the optimal level of phytase in low- or high-SBM diets. Two SBM levels and four phytase doses (0, 1,250, 2,500, and 3,750 phytase units [FTU]/kg were combined to create 8 dietary treatments in a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement. SBM inclusion rates of 15.0 and 25.0% were fed in Phase 1 (day 0-10); 19.0 and 29.0% for Phase 2 (day 11-20); and 32.5% for the common diet fed days 21-43. Pigs fed diets with high SBM had improved growth: feed (P ‹ 0.01) compared with low-SBM diets. Phytase quadratically improved feed efficiencies (P ‹ 0.05), with the optimum phytase dose being 2,500 FTU/kg.

In the second experiment, 2,112 pigs weighing about 6 kg were used to evaluate the impact of high levels of SBM and phytase on performance, stool firmness, mortality, and morbidity in weaned pigs originating from a porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus–positive sow farm. Pigs were fed a 3-phase feeding program as in experiment 1. Three levels of SBM (low, medium, or high) and two phytase levels (600 or 2,600 FTU) were combined to create 6 dietary treatments. Inclusion rates of SBM were 15.0, 22.5, and 30.0% for Phase 1 and 20.0, 27.5, and 35.0% for Phase 2 for low, medium, and high SBM, respectively, and 29.0% for the common Phase 3 diet. Inclusion of SBM did not affect growth performance, however, the percentage of pigs removed for medical treatment linearly declined with increasing SBM levels (P = 0.04). Results indicate that SBM levels in early nursery diets can be increased without decreasing growth performance and may be favorable in pigs originating from PRRS-positive sow farms by reducing costs of medical treatments. Supplementation of phytase at superdose levels can improve growth performance independently from the level of SBM in the diet.

A study was conducted to determine the apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn) contents of by-products from the soybean oil industry for broiler chickens. A total of 390 Cobb male broilers were randomly distributed into 13 treatments having six replicates of five birds each. Birds were fed a common corn-soybean meal starter diet from placement to 21 days. The four fat sources were added at three increasing levels each, and were fed from 21 to 28 d. The fat sources utilized were acidulated soybean soapstock, glycerol, lecithin and a mixture containing 85% soapstock, 10% glycerol and 5% lecithin. A 4 × 3 + 1 factorial arrangement was used with 4 by-products (ASS, GLY, LEC, or MIX), 3 inclusion levels and 1 basal diet. Each of the four fat by-product sources was included in the diets as follow: 2% of by-products (98% basal + 2% by-product), 4% (96% basal + 4% by-product), or 6% (94% basal + 6% by-product). Total excreta were collected twice daily for 72 hours to determine apparent metabolizable energy contents starting at 25 d. The AMEn intake was regressed against feed intake and the slope was used to estimate AMEn values for each fat source.

The resultant AMEn values calculated for the soybean oil by-product were 7,153, 3,916, 7,051, and 8,515 kcal/kg DM for acidulated soybean soapstock, glycerol, lecithin and the mixture, respectively. These results provide AMEn values for soybean oil by-products that can be used in poultry feed form.