Antinutritional factors, ruminal degradation and in vitro protein digestibility of gamma irradiated full-fat soybean

Abstract

Whole soybean is used as a high energy-protein supplement for dairy cows, but contains various antinutritional factors and the protein is highly degradable by rumen microbes. Roasting and extrusion are very popular ways of feeding soybeans to dairy cows but these processing methods may adversely affect the protein digestibility and lysine availability of the final product in the small intestine. Gamma irradiation has been recognized as a reliable and safe method for improving the nutritional value and inactivation or removal of certain antinutritional factors in foods and feeds (Siddhuraju et al., 2002). As far as we know, information about the effects of γ-irradiation on ruminal crude protein (CP) degradation of full-fat soybean in the literature is scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of gamma irradiation (γ-irradiation) on nutritional value and antinutritional factors of soybean (SB) for ruminants.