Soybean Supply and Demand Situation
Accurate information on the 2007 soybean crop is not available. U.S. soybean growers are in the process of making planting decisions for the coming growing season. The growing interest in renewable biofuels is resulting in farmers taking a hard look at the economics of various crops. Traditionally, many farmers in the Midwest will plant corn and soybeans in a 50:50 ration. The increasing demand for biofuels is causing many farmers to recalculate possible profits with different crop rotation options. Many farmers have not made 2007 cropping decisions and these decisions will greatly impact the soybean acreage and supply of soybeans for crush and export.

Best estimates for the 2007 soybean acreage and production will be provided in the next Soybean Meal INFOsource Newsletter. U.S. Department of Agriculture will be surveying the Nation’s farmers and will make preliminary estimates available in early spring. The March estimates should provide a good indication of the supply of soybeans that will be available for processing and export in 2007/08.

Phytase Improvement of Phosphorus Utilization-Chicks
Eighteen soybean meal samples, collected from U.S. soybean processing plants, were evaluated using a five-day chick bioassay to determine whether different commercial soybean meals would respond similarly to an added microbial phytase. The soybean meal samples ranged in analytical values as follows: total phosphorus (0.59-0.87%); phytate phosphorus (0.32-0.42%); calcium (0.28-0.54); crude protein (40.44-51.69%); and neutral detergent fiber (7.78-16.09%). Bioassay results indicated that body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion improved significantly (<0.05) in some groups fed phytase compared to the control treatments without phytase. The range of total phosphorus retention and phytate phosphorus disappearance in groups of chicks fed diets without supplemental phytase ranged from 21.4 to 48.4% and 13.6 to 37.1%, respectively. The addition of phytase increased total phosphorus retention from 56.8 to 68.6% and phytate phosphorus disappearance from 76.2 to 95.1%.

Manangi, M.K. and C.N. Coon. 2006. Evaluation of phytase enzyme with chicks fed basal diets containing different soybean meal samples. J. Applied Poultry Res. 15(2): 292-306.

Soybean Meal Use-Atlantic Cod
Norwegian researchers replaced fish meal with a 2:1 mixture of corn gluten meal and full-fat soybean meal. The six dietary treatments consisted of two fish meal sources and three replacement levels were fed to 167g fish in a twenty-week growth study. All diets were extruded and balanced for gross energy, crude protein, lipid, carbohydrate, lysine and phosphorus. Results indicated that protein and amino acid digestibility was unaffected by including the plant protein ingredient, where as lipid and energy digestibility was reduced by replacing the fish meal with the plant protein mixture. The liver fatty acid profile reflected the full-fat soybean meal. The researchers concluded that corn gluten meal and full-fat soybean meal in a 2:1 ratio can replace approximately half of a high quality fish meal without affecting feed intake, growth, protein digestibility or meat quality characteristics. Lower amounts of the plant protein ingredient should be included in the diet if the quality of the fish meal is reduced.

Albrektsen, S., H. Mundheim and A. Aksnes. 2006. Growth, feed efficiency, digestibility and nutrient distribution in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) fed two different fish meal qualities at three dietary levels of vegetable protein sources. Aquaculture 261(2): 626-640.

Phytase Studies
Six pigs fitted with simple T-cannula in the terminal ileum were used to study the effects of microbial phytase on apparent total track digestibility and retention of phosphorus and nitrogen. Three phosphorus adequate diets containing barley, soybean meal or a combination of barley and soybean meal, with and without 1000 FTU/kg phytase supplement was fed to pigs in a 6x6 Latin square designed experiment. The addition of phytase significantly increased (P<0.05) apparent total phosphorus digestibility of the soybean meal treatment from 56.5 to 69.0% and the apparent soybean meal phosphorus digestibility from 41.3 to 60.5% phytase supplementation reduced (P<0.05) phosphorus excretion of the soybean meal diet by 25%. The addition of phytase to the diet had no effect on nitrogen digestion or retention. In all three diets, total track phosphorus digestion was lower (P<0.05) than ileal digestion thus indicating a net flux of phosphorus into the large intestine.

Patras, P. and co-workers. Effect of microbial phytate on apparent digestibility and retention of phosphorus and nitrogen in growing pigs. Czech J. Animal Sci. 51(10): 437-443.