Newsletter

This is a Special Issue of the Soybean Meal INFOsource newsletter—This issue completes twenty-one years of providing the profession nutritionists and interested persons the latest technical information on soybean meal. We had no idea back in January 1997 that this newsletter would be so successful and have a World distribution of nearly 2,000 persons. We Thank You for your encouragement and continued interest in updates involving advances in soybean research.

Crop year 2017 was a record year for U.S. soybean farmers. Several all-time records, and near-records were set for soybean production and soybean meal. The following table provides the most recent soybean supply and use information published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 2017 soybean crop is still subject to some minor change based on the harvest. Soybean harvested acres and total production appear to be at an all-time high resulting in more soybeans being available for crush and/or export. Soybean yields are estimated at 49.5 bushels/acre nearly an all-time record which supports a record soybean production value of 4,425 million bushels. The record domestic soybean crop increases the volume of soybean meal available for use by the feed industry and for export sales. Over 46 million short tons of soybean meal will be available for the feed trade and export.

Each year since 1986 the American Soybean Association, United Soybean Board and the U.S. Soybean Council have supported a survey on the quality of the new US soybean crop. This survey is intended to provide new crop quality data (composition characteristics) to aid international customers with their purchasing decisions. This year’s report has been completed and made available to soybean customers.

The survey involves researchers at the University of Minnesota requesting representative soybean samples from farmers. The request for soybean samples is weighted and based on total land devoted to soybean production in each state in an attempt to closely match U.S. soybean production. This year 1,587 soybean samples were returned for analyses. The samples are analyzed for protein, oil, and amino acid concentration by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) using a Perten DA7250 diode array instrument with calibrations developed by the University of Minnesota and in cooperation with Perten. Regional and U.S. average values were determined by weighting averages based on the estimated 2016 production values for each state.

Overall, when compared with the 2016 crop, the average protein concentration was 0.4 percentage lower and the oil concentrations were off by 0.2 percentage. Compared with the long-term average (1986-2016), 2017 US soybeans were 1.1 percent lower in protein, and 0.4 percent points higher in oil. The sum of protein plus oil was 53.1 percent, these values should allow soybean processors to simultaneously achieve both good soybean oil yields and reasonable protein concentrations in the resulting soybean meal.

The 2017 amino acid results indicated that there was little regional variation for lysine (expressed as a percent of the 18 primary amino acids) or for the five most essential amino acids (cysteine, lysine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan). The amino acid balance and quantity of essential amino acids are critical to optimum animal/bird performance. These results indicate there are only minor differences between regions which result in a consistent soybean meal that benefits feed formulators.

Table 1. Soybean Quality Survey Data

Table 2. Historcial Summary of Quality Data for U.S. Soybeans

A new comprehensive overview of the use of soybean products for dairy cattle has been published by Extension specialists at Penn State University. This review concludes that incorporating soybeans and their byproducts is an excellent source of essential amino acids, high quality protein, degradable, undegradable and soluble protein, energy, fat and fiber to supplement forage-based dairy rations. Depending on the amount of heat used in processing, soybean and soybean meal can also be a source of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) in the diet. The publication provides an in-depth review of several soy protein ingredients and their proper role in dairy feeds. Included are:

• Raw soybeans
• Heat-treated soybeans
• Roasted soybeans
• Extruded soybeans
• Solvent-extracted soybean meal
• Dehulled, solvent-extracted soybean meal
• Expeller-extracted soybean meal
• Cooker-expelled processed soybean meal (SoyPlus® & Soy Best®)
• Extruder-expeller processed soybean meal
• (Soy King®, InstaSoy-XP® & SoyMax®)
• Non-enzymatically browned soybean meal (Soy Pass®)
• Soyhulls

The publication also provides a wealth of information on the composition of soybean and their byproducts, measurement of proper heat treatment and the importance of particle size of roasted soybeans. Bottom line, this reference is a comprehensive review of the proper use of soybeans and soybean byproducts in dairy rations and should be required reading for those interested in dairy cattle.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of soybean meals (SBM) from USA, Brazil (BRA), and Argentina (ARG) on the apparent ileal digestibility of the amino acids (AA). Five hundred day-old broilers were allocated to nine treatments comparing SBM samples from three different origins, USA (n = 3), Brazil (BRA; n = 3), and Argentina (ARG; n = 3). The SBM samples used were collected by trained personnel at the discharge of the cargos from the different countries. Each treatment was replicated ten times and the experimental unit was a cage with five broilers. Birds were fed a commercial corn-soybean meal diet from 1 to 18 days of age in pellet form and then, their corresponding experimental diets in mash form. The experimental diets consisted of a nitrogen free base composed of corn starch, dextrose, soybean oil, minerals, and solka-floc, and the test SBM.

Results of this experiment found the apparent ideal digestibility of all SBMs, regardless of origin, were similar. The digestibility’s of dry matter, crude protein, and of most amino acids (Lysine, Methionine, and Threonine) was higher for the USA meals compared to the South American meals, although the differences were not significant.

Several readers of the Soybean Meal INFOcenter website over the years have requested information on the use of soybean meal in horse diets. There is not many references on the topic. An informative website was found that discussed the importance of formulating equine feeds with quality proteins that contain the correct amounts and rations of essential amino acids. The amino acid lysine, followed by threonine and methionine, are the key amino acids that are most limiting in equine rations. Soybean meal contains more lysine and threonine compared to other common protein sources (canola, cottonseed and linseed meals).

The website discusses how protein quality is also determined by its digestibility, specifically in the small intestine (prececal) of the horse where intact amino acids can be readily absorbed. The prececal digestibility of protein varies with protein source and protein concentration in the diet. In addition, numerous factors including other ingredients in the diet, protein amount consumed in a single meal and transit time through the tract will affect the prececal digestibility of amino acids in the equine digestive tract.

Protein quality of a feed ingredient can also be affected by processing. Soybean meal is generally available in two forms – 44% protein meal and 48% protein dehulled meal. Dehulled soybean meal is produced by removing the hulls and extracting the oil from soybeans and then the meal is cooked at specific temperatures for a specific amount of time to provide optimal nutritional value. The higher protein dehulled soybean meal is lower in fiber and better utilized by younger horses. Undercooking and overcooking of soybean meal can affect nutrient quality. Raw soybeans should not be fed to horses as they will interfere with protein digestion.

Research was undertaken to evaluate the replacement value of soybean meal (SBM) with canola meal (CM) and sunflower meal (SM) as a protein supplement in a corn silage-based stocker operation. Over a three-year period, weaned calves were assigned to experimental treatments consisting of 75% corn silage, 15% ground ear corn and the soybean, canola or sunflower meal protein supplement. In vitro digestibility studies were also conducted comparing the oilseed meals.

Results showed that the cattle’s dry matter intake were similar for all three treatments, however, average daily gain was greater (P=0.007) for the SBM and CM treatments compared to the SM treatment (1,29, 1,28 & 1.20 kg/d). Cattle fed the SBM and CM treatments had similar average daily again and feed efficiencies. Differences were observed in cost of gain (1.13, 1.09 & 1.10 $/kg of BW gain) for the SBM, CM and SM treatments. (Editor’s note: This research again supports the concept that a feed ingredient’s use in a ration is based on primarily three factors: it’s availability, composition and price. SBM is competitive with other oilseed protein meal since it is widely available, contains high levels of digestible amino acids and energy, and is competitively priced.)