Soybean meal is a high quality source of protein in diets fed to pigs. However, soybean meal contains anti-nutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitors and oligosaccharides, which decrease nutrient availability and limit the amount of soybean meal that can be fed in weanling pig diets.

Soy protein concentrate is produced by processing soybean meal to remove some nonprotein components, including the soluble carbohydrates. This leaves soy protein concentrate with a greater concentration of crude protein and amino acids than soybean meal. The presence of oligosaccharides in soybean meal has been shown to reduce the tolerance of young pigs to conventional soybean meal, and therefore, animal proteins rather than soybean meal is often used in diets for young pigs. However, if the oligosaccharides and other antinutritional factors can be removed from soybean meal, it is possible to use soybean meal in diets for young pigs instead of animal proteins.

Typically, an alcohol extraction process has been used to remove soluble carbohydrates from soybean meal to create soy protein concentrate. However, a new source of soy protein concentrate called Nutrivance (Midwest Ag Enterprises Inc., Marshall, MN) has recently been introduced. Nutrivance is produced using a process combining non-alcohol extraction and enzymatic treatment of soybean meal. The nutritional value of soy protein concentrate produced using this method has not been determined. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the digestibility of amino acids in this new source of soy protein concentrate.

Guo, P. P., P. L. Li, Z. C. Li, H. H. Stein, L. Liu, T. Xia, Y. Y. Yang, and Y. X. Ma. 2015. Effects of post-harvest storage duration and variety on nutrient digestibility and energy content wheat in finishing pigs. Asian-Austr. J. Anim. Sci. 28:1488-1495. Link to full text (.pdf)

In poultry, the particle size of inorganic calcium sources has been shown to affect calcium retention and eggshell quality. However, little is known about the effect of particle size of inorganic calcium fed to pigs. Results of a previous experiment conducted in the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Lab indicated that calcium digestibility and retention were not affected by the particle size of supplemental calcium carbonate. A follow-up study was conducted to test the hypothesis that calcium carbonate particle does not affect growth performance by weanling pigs.

Jaworski, N. W., A. Owusu-Asiedu, A. Awati, A. Thomas, and H. H. Stein. 2015. Effect of a 3-strain Bacillus-based direct-fed microbial on growth performance and volatile fatty acid production in nursery pigs fed low or high fiber diets. J. Anim. Sci. 93(Suppl. s3):856 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Liu, Y. and H. H. Stein. 2015. Effect of Sal CURB on digestibility of energy and nutrients by growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 93(Suppl. s3):855-856 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Mathai, J. K., J. K. Htoo, J. Thomson, K. J. Touchette, and H. H. Stein. 2015. Effects of dietary fiber on the optimum threonine:lysine ratio for 25- to 50-kg gilts. J. Anim. Sci. 93(Suppl. s3):298 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Crenshaw, T. D., O. Adeola, M. J. Azain, S. K. Baidoo, S. D. Carter, G. M. Hill, S. W. Kim, P. S. Miller, M. C. Shannon, and H. H. Stein. 2015. Effects of superdosing of microbial phytase in diets for weanling pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 93(Suppl. s3):227 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Maison, T., Y. Liu, and H. H. Stein. 2015. Apparent and standardized total tract digestibility by growing pigs of phosphorus in canola meal from North America and 00-rapeseed meal and 00-rapeseed expellers from Europe without and with microbial phytase. J. Anim. Sci. 93:3494-3502. Link to full text (.pdf)

Soybeans grown in the northern United States are exposed to fewer growing days and hours of sunlight than soybeans grown elsewhere in the U.S. As a result, soybeans grown in the northern U.S. fix less nitrogen, and have a lower concentration of crude protein, than other U.S. soybeans. However, the concentrations of particular amino acids, particularly indispensable amino acids, are more important for the purposes of diet formulation than the concentration of crude protein. The concentration of amino acids in soybeans grown in different parts of the U.S. has not been determined.

The amount of amino acids in soybean meal that are available to the pig also depends on digestibility, but no research has been conducted to compare the digestibility of amino acids among soybean meal produced in different regions of the U.S. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to compare the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids and the concentration of SID amino acids in soybean meal produced in different regions within the United States and fed to growing pigs.