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Improving Soybean Meal Utilization with Enzymes

Balasubramanian, B. and co-workers
September 2016

Improving Soybean Meal Utilization with Enzymes: Plant-based feed ingredients typically contain remnants of dietary fibers [DF; non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and lignin] that have various anti-nutritive effects in carnivorous fish. Exogenous enzymes have been shown to improve the apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of plant-based diets presumably by assisting in the breakdown of NSP. This study examined the effects on NSP degradation when supplementing β-glucanase, xylanase, protease or a mix of the three enzymes to an extruded, juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) diet containing 344 g/kg dehulled, solvent-extracted soybean meal (SBM). The NSP content in the non-supplemented control diet and in fecal samples from the dietary treatment groups was analyzed to determine the recovery/apparent digestibility of cellulose and total non-cellulosic polysaccharide (T-NCP) sugar monomers. The enzymes had significant, positive effects at the pH range and temperature prevailing in the gastrointestinal tract: β-glucanase improved the ADC of mannose, galactose and uronic acids; xylanase and protease improved the ADC of xylose; and protease furthermore improved the ADC of mannose and uronic acids. There were no negative effects when supplementing all three enzymes together. In conclusion, exogenous enzymes may potentially be applied to fish feed containing soybean meal, assisting in the breakdown of NSP and alleviating some of the anti-nutritive effects.

J. Dalsgaard and co-workers. 2016. Supplementing enzymes to extruded, soybean-based diet improves breakdown of non-starch polysaccharides in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Aquaculture Nutrition 22 (2): 419-426.

A total of 15 Landrace × Yorkshire crossbred sows and their litters were used in a study to evaluate the efficacy of cellulase supplementation on the production performance of sows and piglets. Pigs were randomly allocated into one of three treatments with five replicates per treatment. The dietary treatments were as follows: (1) control (corn-soybean meal-based control); (2) control+ 0.05% cellulase); and (3) control + 0.10% cellulase). The supplementation of cellulase had no effect (P › 0.05) on body weight and feed intake of lactating sows. At weaning, back fat thickness loss decreased (P = 0.04) linearly in the enzyme treatments. The average daily gain (ADG) of piglets increased with the increase in the level of supplemented enzyme. Dry matter and nitrogen digestibility increased linear (P = 0.01) in lactating sows fed enzyme-supplemented diets compared with the control treatment. In conclusion, it is suggested that cellulase supplementation to corn-soybean meal based diet exerts beneficial effects to sows in reducing their back fat thickness loss at weaning, improved nutrient digestibility, and helped to improve the pig gains.

Santi D. Upadhaya, Sang In Lee and In Ho Kim. 2016. Effects of cellulase supplementation to corn soybean meal-based diet on the performance of sows and their piglets. Animal Science Journal 87(7): 904-910.

Soybean meal (SBM) is by far the most popular protein source used for feeding livestock. The objective of the present study was to test the efficacy of supplementation of b-mannanase in diets containing de-hulled or conventional hulled SBM (44% and 48%) in addition to evaluating the interactive effects of SBM and enzyme on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microflora, and noxious gas emission in weanling pigs. A total of 140 crossbred pigs with an initial weigh of about 6 kg were randomly allotted in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with feed consisting of hulled or de-hulled SBM with or without 0.05% b-mannanase. The four treatments were replicated seven times with five pigs per pen.

In this study, pigs fed diets containing 0.05% b-mannanase had greater BW, ADG, G:F, and ADFI compared to pigs fed diets without b-mannanase, however, the differences were not statistically significant. Supplementing with b-mannanase had positive effects on nutrient digestibilities (dry matter, nitrogen, energy and phosphorus), on feed efficiency, and for reducing E. coli population in weanling pigs.

B. Balasubramanian and co-workers. 2016. Effects of dietary b-mannanase supplementation with soybean meal in the performances in weanling pigs. J. Animal Sci. 84: E-Suppl. 5, Abstract 921.