Full fat soybeans for poultry

Experiments were conducted to estimate the value of a new dry-extruded. full—fat soybean (FFSB) product for laying hens and broilers kept at high and low ambient temperatures. The parameters examined were apparent metabolizable energy (AME), protein retention, egg production, egg weight change, growth rate, food conversion ratio and pancreas weight. Soybeans contain several anti—nutritive factors and proper heat treatment is necessary to inactivate these factors. The results of the present studies show that satisfactory processing was obtained with the dry extrusion treatment since the measured urease activity was low. being 4 percent of that in unheated soybeans. In experiments using laying hens and broilers no detrimental effects were detected on protein retention and pancreas weight, even with young broilers. Including FFSB in lieu of soybean meal in layer and broiler diets slightly improved their productivity and food utilization. These were reflected in the egg production and food conversion of laying hens and the food conversion of broilers during the starter period. A beneficial effect of FFSB was observed on the egg weight of hens kept at high ambient temperatures. At high temperature egg weight was markedly decreased (1.1g/egg) in a second year laying flock fed a control diet containing soybean meal, whereas feeding diets containing FFSE increased egg weight by 0.1 to 0.8g. Smaller beneficial responses in egg weight were also obtained in first year laying pullets kept at high ambient temperatures. Including FFSB in layer and finishinq broiler diets significantly increased dietary AME compared with diets containing soybean meal. The increase was disproportionate in that the increase in AME resulting from dietary supplementation with FFSB was greater than the gross energy of the additional oil contained in the FFSB. This suggests that the addition of low level of dietary oil improves the absorption of other dietary components. Signi¥icant1y higher AME values were observed with laying hens and finishing broilers kept at the high ambient temperatures. This response was probably related to differences in N—retention since the significant effect of temperature disappeared after the AME values were adjusted to zero N— retention. The additional production resulting from the inclusion of this FFSB product in poultry diets was low, so its usage will primarily depend on the cost of processing