Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of low-oligosaccharide soybean meal (LO-SBM) on AMEn and amino acid (AA) digestibility from 28 to 32 d of age.

In experiment 1, 1,284 Ross broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 48 pens (16 replicate pens per treatment). The three dietary treatments were fed from 18 to 32 d of age. A 48 hour excreta collection period was conducted for apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen excretion (AMEn) determination from 29 to 31 d of age. The three experimental treatments were a basal diet formulated to contain corn, distillers dried grains with solubles, peanut meal, and poultry by-product meal as the primary ingredients; treatment 2 consisted of 70% of the basal diet plus 30% CSBM; and treatment 3 was 70% of the basal diet plus 30% LO-SBM. The research team reported that the LO-SBM had a significantly higher AMEn (2,435 vs. 2,241 kcal/kg (P = 0.011) compared with the CSBM.

In experiment 2, 996 Ross broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 24 pens (12 replicate pens per treatment) and fed semi-purified diets contained 43% CSBM or LO-SBM as the sole protein source. Results indicated that the standardized ileal digestibility coefficients of Met, Lys, Thr, Val, and Ile were significantly higher (P < 0.001) for CSBM compared with LO-SBM. Conversely, total Met, Lys, Val, and Ile composition of LO-SBM was 2 to 3 percentage points numerically greater than that of CSBM resulting in higher (P < 0.02) digestibility values for these 4 essential AA. These results indicated that LO-SBM had higher AMEn and digestible Met, Lys, Val, and Ile values than the CSBM source. (These results show the potential nutritional improvements in soybean cultivars that are genetically modified for low oligosaccharide levels. These results indicated that the AMEn values could be increased by about ten percent by reducing the oligosaccharide level in soybean meal).