Concentrations of nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility in soybean meal from Argentina, Brazil, China, Thailand and the United States fed to broilers

The nutritional value of soybean meal from different sources may vary due to differences in processing techniques and environmental conditions such as growing areas, soil type, and variety of soybeans. The Philippines import soybean for livestock feed from many different countries. However, the nutritional quality of soybean meal from these different origins has not been compared. It is important for producers formulating diets in the Philippines to know whether the same values can be used in formulations for all sources of imported soybean meal. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to determine the concentrations of apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids by broilers fed soybean meal from Argentina, Brazil, China, Thailand, and the United States.

Materials and methods

A total of eight sources of soybean meal were procured: two from Argentina (ARG1 and ARG2), one from Brazil, one from China, one from Thailand, and three from the United States (US1, US2, and US3). All soybean meal samples were collected from feed mills in the Philippines and were expected to be representative of the sources of soybean meal imported to the Philippines. The soybean meal sources were analyzed for energy and nutrient composition (Table 1).

In the first experiment, a total of 72 day-old male broiler chicks were fed one of nine diets. The basal diet was based on corn and a source of soybean meal that was different from the sources being tested. Eight additional diets were formulated based on a mixture of 70% of the basal diet and each source of soybean meal. The AMEn of the corn-based basal diet was determined using the following formula:

AMEn of diet = AME of diet - (N gain × 8.22/dry matter intake), where N gain = body weight gain × 0.20)/6.235

The difference procedure was then used to calculate he AMEn of each tested soybean meal source.

AMEn of soybean meal = AMEn of basal diet - [(AMEn of basal diet - AMEn of experimental diet)/0.30]

The second experiment used a total of 48 cecectomized Single Comb White Leghorn roosters to determine amino acid digestibility in the eight sources of soybean meal. Each rooster was tube fed 30 grams of soybean meal, and excreta were collected 48 hours later.

Nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy

AMEn values were not different among the soybean meal samples from Brazil, China, Thailand, US1, US2, and US3 (Table 2). Soybean meal from China had a greater (P < 0.05) concentration of AMEn than soybean meal from ARG1 or ARG2. ARG2 also had less (P < 0.05) AMEn than soybean meal from Thailand, US1, or US2.

Standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids

The mean SID of indispensable amino acids did not differ among the samples (Table 3). Soybean meal from US3 had greater (P < 0.05) SID of arginine compared with samples from Thailand, China, and Brazil, greater (P < 0.05) SID of histidine compared with samples from US2, Thailand, and China, and greater  (P < 0.05) SID of lysine compared with soybean meal from Brazil. Soybean meal from Brazil had greater (P < 0.05) SID of threonine compared with samples from ARG2, China, Thailand, and all three US sources, as well as greater (P < 0.05) SID of phenylalanine than soybean meal from US1. Soybean meal from US1 had greater (P < 0.05) SID of tryptophan than soybean meal from Brazil. No other differences were observed in SID of indispensable amino acids.

Minor differences were also observed among sources of soybean meal in the SID of dispensable amino acids. The SID of total amino acids was greater for US3 soybean meal compared with samples from China, Thailand, or US2.

Key points

  • The AMEn of soybean meal from China was greater than that of soybean meal from Argentina, but not different from the AMEn of soybean meal from Brazil, Thailand, and the United States.
  • With a few exceptions, SID of indispensable amino acids was the same among the different sources of soybean meal. The SID of total amino acids was greater in US3 soybean meal than in soybean meal from China, Thailand, or US2.
  • The variation among sources of soybean meal obtained within the same country may be as great as the variation among countries.

Table 1. Analyzed nutrient composition of eight sources of soybean meal

 

Country

 

Item

ARG1

ARG2

Brazil

China

Thailand

US1

US2

US3

Average

GE, kcal/kg

4,156

4,154

4,154

4,123

4,125

4,190

4,206

4,094

4,150

DM

89.38

89.55

89.07

87.96

89.01

90.00

90.62

88.58

89.27

CP

45.28

45.35

47.73

48.67

47.66

46.66

47.20

47.18

46.97

AEE1

1.35

0.53

1.01

0.93

0.29

1.07

1.47

0.67

0.79

ADF

6.84

6.55

10.03

7.69

8.09

7.68

6.29

6.19

7.42

NDF

7.66

9.61

11.01

8.85

10.15

9.05

9.77

8.78

9.36

Lignin

1.03

0.35

1.70

0.76

0.84

0.97

0.47

0.93

0.98

Ash

6.93

6.83

6.68

5.74

5.77

5.85

5.93

7.00

6.34

Carbohydrates

                 

  Starch

1.80

1.80

ND2

ND

1.80

1.50

1.40

1.80

1.68

  Glucose

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

-

  Maltose

0.19

0.25

0.37

0.37

0.22

0.28

0.24

0.14

0.28

  Fructose

0.10

0.09

0.08

0.07

0.07

0.08

0.08

0.07

0.08

  Sucrose

7.29

7.21

5.65

5.16

6.61

7.84

7.94

6.32

7.66

  Stachyose

5.14

5.00

3.96

4.22

5.41

5.52

5.54

5.52

5.04

  Raffinose

1.42

1.39

1.61

1.53

1.11

1.26

1.29

1.36

1.37

1AEE = acid hydrolyzed ether extract
2ND = Not detected.

 

Table 2. Intake and output of energy, and concentrations of AME and AMEn in experimental diets and soybean meals (as-fed basis)

 

Country

 

Item

ARG1

ARG2

Brazil

China

Thailand

US1

US2

US3

Average

SEM

P-value

GE intake, kcal

1,369ab

1,395ab

1,352ab

1,277b

1,448a

1,258b

1,431a

1,309ab

1,355

35.90

0.04

GE excreta, kcal

418ab

450a

398ab

363b

449a

379b

445a

397ab

412

16.30

0.05

AMEn of diet, kcal/kg

2,662bc

2,620c

2,746abc

2,831a

2,768ab

2,775ab

2,775ab

2,725abc

2,738

33.96

0.03

AMEn of SBM, kcal/kg

2,712bc

2,699c

2,737abc

2,762a

2,744ab

2,746ab

2,746ab

2,731abc

2,734

10.19

0.03

a-cMeans within a row lacking a common superscript letter are different (P < 0.05).
 

Table 3. Standardized ileal digestibility of soybean meals from Argentina, Brazil, China, Thailand, and the United States fed to cecectomized roosters

 

Country

 

Item

ARG1

ARG2

Brazil

China

Thailand

US1

US2

US3

Average

SEM

P-value

Indispensable AA

                   

Arg

91.7abc

92.6ab

88.3c

89.1c

89.5bc

92.8ab

92.6ab

93.4a

91.2

0.83

0.04

His

88.6ab

88.2ab

88.3ab

87.4b

88.0b

88.2ab

87.7b

90.3a

88.4

0.57

0.05

Ile

92.1

92.1

92.8

92.0

91.3

91.3

91.9

93.1

92.1

0.45

0.06

Leu

92.1

91.9

92.7

91.8

91.0

91.0

91.1

92.6

91.8

0.48

0.08

Lys

88.0ab

88.3ab

87.1b

87.6ab

88.6ab

87.6ab

87.4ab

90.6a

88.2

0.80

0.04

Met

92.0

92.0

92.7

91.9

91.6

91.1

91.1

92.5

91.9

0.50

0.11

Phe

92.7ab

92.6ab

93.4a

92.6ab

91.8ab

91.6b

91.7ab

93.3ab

92.5

0.44

0.05

Thr

88.2ab

86.7b

89.3a

86.7b

86.5b

86.5b

85.9b

88.3b

87.3

0.61

0.04

Trp

96.5ab

96.7ab

97.0ab

96.3b

96.6ab

97.2a

96.8ab

96.5ab

96.7

0.20

0.03

Val

91.4

91.1

91.9

90.9

90.3

90.6

90.8

92.2

91.2

0.51

0.07

Mean

91.3

91.2

91.4

90.6

90.5

90.8

90.7

97.27

91.1

0.44

0.06

Dispensable AA, %

                   

Ala

88.4

88.4

89.3

88.3

87.8

87.0

87.3

89.2

88.2

88.19

0.06

Asp

90.3abc

89.4bc

91.1ab

89.6bc

89.5bc

89.2c

88.5a

91.7c

89.9

89.90

0.05

Cys

79.9ab

78.0b

83.2ab

78.7ab

79.4ab

78.3ab

79.2ab

83.6a

80.0

1.33

0.04

Glu

93.7ab

93.1ab

94.3a

93.1ab

92.8ab

92.3b

92.2b

94.1a

93.2

0.38

0.01

Gly

88.3bc

88.6bc

87.6bc

85.8c

85.3c

91.2ab

87.6bc

95.1a

88.7

1.14

0.02

Pro

92.3

91.6

92.7

91.4

91.1

91.1

90.5

92.8

91.7

0.62

0.07

Ser

91.2ab

90.4ab

91.7a

90.0ab

89.5ab

88.9b

89.6ab

91.1ab

90.3

0.62

0.03

Tyr

92.6

92.0

92.9

90.0

91.5

91.5

92.0

93.0

92.2

0.42

0.08

Mean

85.6ab

88.9ab

90.3ab

88.6b

88.3b

88.7b

88.4b

91.3a

89.2

0.63

0.02

Total AA

90.6ab

90.2ab

90.9ab

89.7b

89.55b

89.9ab

89.7b

91.9a

90.3

0.51

0.04

a-cMeans within a row lacking a common superscript are different (P < 0.05).

This report is based on research by Kelly Sotak-Peper and Hans H. Stein, published in Sotak-Peper's Ph. D. dissertation.

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