Soybean Meal: A Swine Industry Perspective
“Soybean meal (SBM) in swine nutrition has been the “gold-standard” protein that all other competitive proteins are measured and priced against. SBM provides an excellent amino acid (AA) profile of high true digestibility relative to the pig’s requirement when balanced with corn in a complete feed. The quantity and availability of energy, essential amino acids (EAA) and phosphorus (P) primarily drive SBM quality in the context of swine nutrition. Since energy is the most costly nutrient in swine feeds, the energy value of SBM is critical in formulating cost efficient diets that provide optimum growth with minimal nutrient excretion and/or energetic losses. Dehulled SBM contains (by difference) approximately 32 to 35% carbohydrates in primarily oligosaccharide forms. Improvement in the digestibility of these components offers tremendous potential in improving the available energy in SBM. Defining the factors that can influence or that can improve the energy value of SBM is paramount to swine nutritionists. Considerable time and effort has been spent over the past 84 years in understanding the impact of required heat treatment of soybeans to neutralize the inherit anti-nutritional factors and their impact of AA availability. The use of protein dispersibility index alone or in conjunction with KOH protein solubility test provides an excellent means to predict adequacy of heat treatment during processing, but are not practical for use in large scale feed mills. Most swine nutritionists surveyed by the author routinely monitor moisture, protein and fiber in SBM. Many have AA analyses performed quarterly or monthly baselines or predict AA levels from protein levels; however, rarely would they modify their matrix digestibility values based on compositional changes. Increasing the P availability in SBM could decrease diet cost and P excretion and increase dietary energy concentration. Many swine nutritionists consider SBM one of the most consistent quality (nutrient composition and availability) ingredients they use. Areas of concern or opportunity to improve SBM are energy value, consistent processing methodology across the industry and increased P availability”.
Haydon, Keith. 2001. Soybean meal quality: Swine industry perspective. J. Animal Sci. 79:Suppl. 1 (abstract 859).
