Soybean Composition

Researchers at the University of Illinois studied the variation in soybean meal composition produced in various maturity zones. They collected soybean meal samples from 55 U.S. soybean processing plants at two-week intervals. The samples were analyzed for crude and acid hydrolyzed fat, amino acids and oligosaccharides. Results indicated a lot of variation and a few trends in compositional values. Soybean meal produced in southern processing plants had higher total essential amino acids (22.3% for zone I versus 23.7% for zones 5 and 6). The lowest total amino acid levels were observed in meals produced in northern zones 1 (50.8%) and zone 2 (51.0%). These results confirm the modest variation in soybean meal composition; variation within and between maturity zones may be significant.

Karr-Lilienthal, Lisa K. and co-workers. 2004. Maturity zone effects on composition of soybean meals sampled from 55 US processing plants. Poster W70, p330 of the 2004 Joint Annual Meeting abstracts.