Grow Soy Protein To Grow Animal Protein

 

 

 

Having worked as a poultry nutritionist for a long time, I have a wish list for soybean farmers, processors and geneticists. Each of these entities has a different goal, so soybean and soybean meal production is an interesting cycle.

 

In the U.S., the two greatest costs in animal feed are energy and protein, especially essential amino acids. Corn is a primary energy source but is a poor source of essential amino acids, particularly lysine. Soybean meal is relatively low in energy but high in essential amino acids. So when a nutritionist is evaluating soybean meal as an ingredient, the most important factors are levels of essential amino acids and digestibility of those amino acids. Since protein is a big cost in poultry diets, most other protein sources, including animal byproduct meals, canola meal and peanut meal, are priced against soy. This means that the soybean industry has a large impact on animal diet costs.

 

When soybean meal is low in essential amino acids, more soybean meal or replacements must be added, at the expense of other less costly ingredients, particularly corn. Additionally, more fat must be added to keep the energy content of the diet. Over the past two decades, corn’s protein content has decreased, putting more pressure on soy to provide protein in the diet.

 

"I would encourage soybean farmers to find out about the options available to them, such as higher protein and higher energy soybean varieties." – Dr. Carla Price, poultry nutritionist

 

I would encourage soybean farmers to find out about the options available to them, such as higher protein and higher energy soybean varieties. If there were enough high protein and high energy beans out there, pressure would be placed on processors to pay more for those beans. The farmer is going to have to weigh yield against the value bundle provided to the end user for the entire system to change. Change can be slow in any system, but we have to think ahead.

 

From the point of view of a poultry nutritionist, I would ask geneticists for higher protein, higher energy (lower complex sugars and more simple sugars), less potassium and more available phosphate. Oh, and add more methionine if you can. Processors, pay more attention to protein content and get those hulls off. 

 

I occasionally wish that nutritionists, producers, processors and geneticists could all get together and talk about the future to benefit everyone. Maybe this is a first step.