22 Evaluating the effects of startup soybean meal on nursery pig growth performance

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Abstract The conventional processing of soybeans into soybean meal (SBM) includes multiple stages such as dehulling, solvent extraction, and heat treatment to eliminate antinutritional factors. A SBM plant’s startup phase is when the plant reinitiates its processing after a pause in operations. This is a critical phase in manufacturing because the SBM processed during startup may differ in quality from those produced under normal operations. This study aimed to investigate the effects of startup SBM on nursery growth performance. A total of 300 pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 5.34 ± 0.006 kg) were used in a 38-d growth study. Pens were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments in a generalized randomized complete block design with 5 pigs per pen and 12 replicate pens per treatment. Two batches of SBM were sourced from the same plant. The first batch was obtained from the initial truckload from the startup phase of the plant and approximately four hours later, a second batch was sourced once the SBM processing had stabilized. To assess the nutritional quality of SBM, protein solubility in potassium hydroxide (KOH), and trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) were measured on both sources. The startup SBM had a KOH solubility of 68.9% and a TIA of 6.34 ± 0.12 trypsin inhibitor units (TIU)/mg seed powder, while the normal SBM had a KOH solubility of 82.1% and a TIA of 7.12 ± 0.54 TIU/mg seed powder. The two different SBM sources were blended to create a titration of startup soybean meal in the diet. Startup SBM replaced 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% of the normal SBM to form the dietary treatments. The nutritional composition of both SBM sources was considered the same and thus the startup SBM replaced the normal SBM on an equal wt basis without other changes to the formulation. Diets were provided in mash form with dietary treatments fed throughout all three dietary phases. From d 0 to 10, increasing startup SBM led to a marginal decrease in ADG and d 10 BW (linear, P< 0.10) and a reduction in G:F (linear, P=0.041). From d 10 to 22, increasing startup SBM decreased ADG and d 22 BW (linear, P< 0.05), with a marginal reduction (linear, P=0.067) in G:F. However, no significant effects were observed for any growth performance criteria from d 22 to 38 and for the overall nursery period. In conclusion, the quality of startup SBM can affect the performance of nursery pigs, specifically during the first two weeks after weaning, suggesting that pigs may be particularly sensitive to SBM quality during that phase of growth. However, pigs adjusted to the startup SBM towards the end of the nursery period, leading to no differences in overall growth.