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Degussa Corporation has published two technical bulletins on the apparent ileal amino acid digestibilities in diet formulation for pigs. The bulletins referenced several papers that investigated the concept of using ileal amino acid digestibilities to define the nutritional value of various protein sources. The bulletins supported the conclusion that the protein value of feedstuffs is defined entirely on the basis of ileal digested and absorbed amino acids. Accurate information on the digestible amino acid supply, especially of the limiting amino acid, is important in ranking feedstuffs. Several references were cited showing how various feedstuffs vary in percent ileal lysine digestibility and how pig performance is directly related to ileal lysine digestibility. Their concluding statement was "In performance trials under commercial conditions, it has been proven that diet formulation on the basis of ileal digestible lysine permits a more accurate estimate of performance potential of growing pigs than calculations based on total lysine. Both the level of daily gain and feed conversion were far more closely related to the ileal lysine content than to the corresponding total lysine content." The importance of formulating on the basis of ileal digestible
amino acid to soybean meal is evident. Not only does soybean meal contain
high levels of the essential amino acids, the amino acids in soybean
meal are highly digestible, which results in a protein source that supplies
the amino acids necessary for efficient growth of lean tissue. It is
no wonder that soybean meal is the standard by which all alternative
protein ingredients are compared.
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