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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is estimating world soybean production in the 2018/2019 market year will be 359.5 million metric tons compared to last year’s 336.7 million metric ton estimate.  Three countries, Brazil, Argentina and the U.S., are projected to produce about 82% of the world’s total soybeans.  This is the first year that Brazil is predicted to produce more soybeans than the United States.  The U.S. production is estimated at 117.3 million metric tons, or about 4,300 million bushels.

World Soybean Production

World soybean meal production is dominated by four countries; China, U.S., Brazil and Argentina.  While the values are not shown, Argentina, Brazil, U.S., Paraguay and Bolivia export over 60 million metric tons of soybean meal annually which represents over 93% of the world’s soybean meal exports.

World Soybean Meal Production

World soybean meal use is closely related to the country’s livestock and poultry enterprises.  China, U.S., European Union, and Brazil account for about 65% of the world’s use of soybean meal; with the remaining 35% spread between numerous countries with commercial livestock and poultry operations. China’s demand for soybean meal is growing since they are the World’s largest producers of pork and aquaculture.

World Soybean Meal Use

The bottom line is that increasing the World’s demand for meat, milk and eggs will mean a growing demand for soybean meal and feed grains.

Research was conducted to develop a mathematic model that estimates the value of soybean meal based on soybean composition.  The research involved collecting 8,282 soybean samples from 29 states during 2013-2016 and completing nutrient analyses of the individual samples.  A least-cost typical mid-finishing swine diet was formulated and used to develop relative comparisons of the individual soybean samples.  The researchers assumed constant energy contents and the meal values would be primarily based on the protein and amino acids differences in the individual soybean samples.  The model developed was:   

Soybean Meal Value ($) per ton equals 72.16361 + 1.65587 x Protein + 27.24420 x Lysine + 57.25507 x Methionine + 84.56061 x Tryptophan + 21.80598 x Isoleucine.  (The units of the independent variables are expressed as percent on a dry weight basis).

The predictive reliability of the model was evaluated with independent soybean samples and found to have a correlation of R²=0.99 between calculated and actual soybean meal values.  There is a correlation R²=0.82 between soybean seed protein and soybean meal value.  The predictive ability of the formula was further improved by including lysine, methionine, tryptophan and isoleucine values.

The study showed no correlation (R²=0.01) between soybean yield and soybean protein content or calculated soybean meal value.  They found ample variation between calculated soybean meal values between soybean production regions and within states.

The high cost and competing demand for fish meal in fish diet has made the search for alternative ingredients very expedient. A 12-week feeding trial was conducted with Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) to determine the effect of replacing fishmeal with soybean meal and methionine on growth, nutrient utilization, hematology, and plasma biochemistry.

Four experimental diets (40% crude protein) were formulated, with no soybean meal (control), partial Soybean Meal (PSBM), only Soybean Meal (SBM) and soybean meal supplemented with methionine (OSM+M).  Three groups of 15 fish each were fed at 3% body weight daily for 84 days.

Results showed that mean weight gain and fish length were significantly increased (p<0.05) in PSBM (22.77 g and 16.90 cm, respectively) and least in the control group (17.54 g and 14.63 cm, respectively).  Growth rate values were high in PBSM (1.62) and SBM+M (1.55) and least in the control group (1.48).  Based on the results of this study the researchers concluded that soybean meal can either be used to partially replace fishmeal or completely replace it with methionine supplementation, when growth, nutrient utilization and health status of Nile tilapia are considered.

Animal proteins are commonly used in extruded dog foods. Plant-based proteins have a more consistent nutrient profile than animal sources but may contain antinutritional factors, including trypsin inhibitors and oligosaccharides. Bioprocessed soy protein (SP; HP-300; Hamlet Protein, Inc., Findlay, OH) is a processed soy-based product with low antinutritional factor concentrations and high protein quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of SP on apparent total tract macronutrient digestibility, fecal characteristics, and fecal fermentative end products. The study was also to determine whether SP could be a replacement for poultry byproduct meal (PBPM) in dog food.

Forty-eight Beagle dogs were randomly assigned to one of six treatments (0 (control), 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48% SP) and fed a 30% crude protein and 16% fat diet.  Palatability studies compared 0, 12, or 48% SP diets.  The palatability results suggest that of the 3 inclusion levels tested (0, 12, or 48% SP), the best inclusion of SP is 12%, which was preferred over 0 and 48% SP.   Digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and energy did not differ from the control at any inclusion rate, except for a decrease (P < 0.01) at 48% SP.  Apparent total tract crude protein digestibility was not affected by treatment and ranged from 82.9 to 86.2%.   Stool output (on both an as-is and a DM basis) did not differ from the control except for the 48% SP treatment (P < 0.01).  Treatment had no effect on stool consistency scores.  The researchers concluded that SP is a suitable replacement for PBPM in dog diets up to a 24% inclusion level.

A study was conducted to determine the AME_n contents of fat by-products from the soybean oil industry for broiler chickens.  A total of 390 slow-feathering Cobb × Cobb 500 male broilers were randomly distributed into 13 treatments having 6 replicates of 5 birds each.  Birds were fed a common starter diet from placement to day 21.  Experimental corn-soy diets were composed of four fat sources, added at 3 increasing levels each, and were fed from days 21 to 28.

The oil sources utilized in this experiment were: acidulated soybean soapstock (ASS), glycerol (GLY), lecithin (LEC), and a mixture (MIX) containing 85% ASS, 10% GLY and 5% LEC.  The treatments were four by-products (ASS, GLY, LEC, or MIX), three inclusion levels and one basal diet. Each of the four oil by-product sources was included in the diets at 2%, 4%, or 6%.  Birds were submitted to 94, 96, 98, and 100% of ad libitum feed intake; therefore, the differences in AME_n consumption were only due to the added by-product.  Total excreta were collected twice daily for 72 h to determine apparent metabolizable energy contents starting at day 25.  The AME_n intake was regressed against feed intake and the slope was used to estimate AME_n values for each fat source.  The study generated the following AME_n for the four soybean oil by-products that can be used in poultry feed formulation.

Apparent ileal apparent digestibility (AID) for crude protein and amino acids in five protein feedstuffs were determined using 5-week-old male broiler chickens.  The feed ingredients evaluated in this study were: corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), raw full-fat soybean (RFFSB), extruded full fat soybean (EFFSB), soybean meal (SBM), and rapeseed meal (RSM).  This study has special interest in that five protein feed ingredients were directly compared and statistically analyzed in one experiment.

Results of this research is recorded in the following table.  AID of crude protein was the highest for SBM (0.73) and lowest (P < 0.05) for RFFSB (0.45).  No differences in AID for crude protein were observed for RSM (0.61) and DDGS (0.62).  The AID values for all essential amino acids except Lysine (0.52) were the lowest in RFFSB (P < 0.05).  The AID of for all essential amino acids was the highest in SBM (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between EFFSB and SBM in AID for most essential amino acids.   The AID of crude protein and amino acids were high for EFFSB and SBM compared to the other protein ingredients.  (This is another study that demonstrates the comparative nutritive value of SBM when compared to other feed protein ingredients.  Poultry producers can rely on SBM to provide a reliable and consistent source of digestible protein and amino acids that support optimum bird performance).