Influence of Soybean Meal Particle Size on Digestibility

A study was conducted to determine the effects of soybean meal particle size on amino acid and energy ideal digestion in the young growing pig. A common source of soybean meal was processed through a hammer mill to produce particle sizes of approximately 900, 600, 300 and 150 microns. The results of the digestion study indicated that the apparent and true digestibilities of isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine and valine were linearly increased as the particle size was reduced. The average of the ten essential amino acids showed that both apparent and true digestibilities increased as particle size was decreased, whereas the non-essential amino acid digestibilities were not affected. Energy digestion was not affected by the particle size of the soybean meal. The largest improvement in digestibility was obtained when the soybean meal was ground to a particle size of approximately 600 microns. These results indicate that the particle size can influence its digestibility in the pig.

Fastinger, N.D. and D.C. Mahan. 2001. Effects of soybean meal particle size on amino acid and energy digestibility in growing-finishing swine. Abstract presented at the Midwestern Section of ASA and the Midwest Branch of ADSA 2001 Mtg., Des Moines, IA. Abstract #228.