Newsletter

The following table provides the most recent soybean supply and use information published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While the 2015 soybean crop is still subject to some change based on the harvest, (page 1) Total production areas harvested: Total production and average soybean yields are at an all-time high resulting in more soybeans being available for crush and/or export; and (page 2) Increased domestic soybean meal production increases the volume of soybean meal available for use by the feed industry and for export sales.

The World’s production of soybeans and soybean meal has increased steadily. Most of the increased supply of soybeans has been produced in South America and the United States. These data indicate that most of the soybean meal is consumed in four regions (Southeast Asia and China, Europe and North America. Continued growth in poultry, swine and aquaculture operations worldwide will further expand the need for soybean meal.

Nutritive values for major feed ingredients vary considerably not only among different feedstuff, but also within the same ingredient produced in different geographical regions and production batches. Rapid screening to assess true nutritive value has been a great challenge in the feed industry. This research study evaluated soybean meal (SBM) samples of four different regions using both near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) and broiler experiments.

In the first broiler study, four SBM samples were assigned identical “book values”, so that the four dietary formulations were the same, varying only in the sources of SBM. In the second broiler study, individual NIRS prediction values for each SBM were used in the ration formulation. The level of SBM was varied to ensure diets were iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous. The broiler studies consisted of eight treatments with six replicates using sixteen male birds each, from day 1 to 40 of age.

The results showed that when using the common values for the four SBM, broiler performance was very different in terms of live weight gain and feed conversion (P<0.05); when the diets were formulated using individual NIRS values for each individual SBM, the birds grew very similarly.

The results demonstrated that the four SBMs used in this study were very different in their nutritive quality, as shown by NIRS analyses and their performances in the broiler diets. The study also confirmed that the quality of a SBM is largely defined by its levels of metabolizable energy and digestible amino acids, rather than crude protein levels as routinely judged in most commercial practice.

Table: Nutrient Values of Four Soybean Meals as Estimated by Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (%)

The results clearly demonstrated that the nutritive quality of various SBMs is not the same; their values are largely defined by their levels of metabolizable energy and digestible amino acids. This means that knowing the specific composition of any SBM, then the quality and economic value of that meal can be calculated. A lower quality SBM (with lower levels of metabolizable energy and digestible amino acids) may still produce good broiler performance if the diet is formulated with its correct nutrient values. To obtain optimum broiler performance accurate nutrient values are needed for the SBM used in the broiler feed formulations.

A Meta-analysis Replacement of Corn and Soybean Meal in Broiler Diets was conducted to evaluate broiler response to partial or total substitution of corn by sorghum and millet and to determine the effect of soybean meal replacement by cottonseed meal in the broiler diet. The database included 190 treatments from 29 experiments published from 1990 to 2013. Bird responses to experimental diets were calculated relative to the corn-soybean meal control diet.

Results showed that diets containing millet led to similar performance as the corn-based ones for all parameters, whereas sorghum-based diets decreased growth performance. No effect of the level of substitution of sorghum on feed intake was found; however, growth performance decreased when the level of substitution of corn by sorghum increased. Results obtained for sorghum pointed out the necessity to find technological improvements that will increase the utilization of these feedstuffs in broiler diet.

Cottonseed meal was substituted for soybean meal up to 40% and found to increase feed intake while reducing growth performance. Young birds were not more sensitive to these ingredients than older birds since there was no negative effect of these ingredients on performance in the starter phase. The research group plans to validate these statistical results in vivo and evaluate the interactions induced with the simultaneous inclusions of sorghum, millet and cottonseed meal in broiler feeding.

In organic poultry diets, synthetic methionine use is currently limited to 1 kg and 1.5 kg per metric ton (2.2-3 lbs per short ton) in organic feed for laying hens, broilers, turkeys and other poultry in the United States. All other synthetic amino acids (AA) have been banned from use in organic poultry diets. It is challenging to provide sufficient methionine to maintain bird growth and productive performance up to current industry standards given the recent restrictions that have been placed on synthetic methionine. Without synthetic amino acids, methionine requirements can alternatively be obtained for organic poultry by significantly increasing dietary crude protein via additional inclusion of expeller-pressed soybean meal to the diets. However, this strategy leads to both major increases in feed costs and environmental concerns due to increasing nitrogen excretion, with concurrent rises in ammonia emissions, and corresponding welfare issues due to ammonia and litter quality. This paper reviews the negative impacts associated with limiting synthetic amino acids.

Exogenous enzyme treatment is commonly added to poultry diets to improve nutrient utilization, reduce excretion of nutrients into the environment, improve animal/bird performance and to reduce the cost of production. A series of four experiments were conducted in broilers to determine the efficacy and tolerance to an enzyme product (Vegpro™) containing protease and xylanase activities in wheat-soybean meal diets fed to broilers from 1 to 39 or 42 days of age. The experiments tested protease activity levels of 0, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 or 100,000 HUT/kg of feed. Results indicated that Vegpro™ improved average daily gain and feed conversion ratio, especially in birds up to 21 d of age. Overall, inclusion of Vegpro™ to broiler diets at 10,000 HUT protease per kg of feed was shown to provide the maximum weight gain and feed conversion benefits. Increasing the protease activity to100,000 HUT/kg, (ten times the recommended inclusion rate) was well tolerated and did not adversely affect the measured health and performance indicators from 1 to 42 d of age.

In a classic Over Processing of Soybean Meal study, the effect of overcooked soybean meals (SBM) on chick growth and amino acid availability, experimental SBMs were custom-prepared at a commercial processing plant by changing the conditions of a desolventizer-toaster (DT) unit. Six progressively overcooked meals were produced by increasing the DT temperature up to 50% and extending DT retention time up to 75% above normal.

The meals measured .05, .03, .01, .09, .00, and .00 ΔpH of urease activity; 6.10, 5.01, 4.62, 4.83, 2.32, and 1.78 mg/g SBM of trypsin inhibitor activity; 92, 89, 91, 88, 81, and 81% of protein solubility in 0.2% KOH; and 46, 43, 41, 40, 23, and 19% of protein solubility in 0.1M borate at 40 C, respectively. Total amino acids were not affected by these heat treatments. Analyses of the soluble carbohydrate extract also found no differences in the degradation of sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose with increasing heat treatment.

In a chick growth experiment with a methionine-adequate, low-protein diet, chicks fed normally- processed SBM showed significantly greater weight gains compared to the chicks fed overcooked SBMs. In a separate study, the research group found significant differences in apparent amino acid availability to growing chicks, but not in true amino acid availability by adult roosters among the four progressively overcooked meals. These results suggest that the temperature or the retention time of a DT unit may be increased by 50% over the usual operating conditions without reducing amino acid availability from SBM.

Lee, H. and J.D. Garlich. 1992. Effect of overcooked soybean meal on chicken performance and amino acid availability. Poultry Sci. 71(3): 499-508

In companion studies, three turkey growth experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of overcooked soybean meal (SBM) on body weight gain and gain: feed ratio. Soybean meals were custom prepared by changing the temperature and the retention time of the desolventizer-toaster unit at a commercial soybean processing plant. Three different meals were produced mainly by altering retention time from normal to approximately 1.35 and 2.43 times normal operating conditions.

Turkey poults were fed various combinations of the regular and over-processed soybean meal. The researchers concluded SBM did not show a detrimental effect on turkey growth until it was overcooked by 2.4 times the normal conditions. The researchers concluded that usual operating conditions in commercial SBM processing plants are well within the range for producing high quality SBMs for poultry feeds.

Lee, Heuisuck, J.D. Garlish and P.R. Ferket. 1991. Effect of overcooked soybean meal on turkey performance. Poultry Science (1991) 70 (12):2509-2515