Digestible and metabolizable energy in soybean meal sourced from different countries and fed to pigs

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to compare the nutritional composition and the concentration of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) of soybean meal (SBM) from the leading soybean producing countries in the world when fed to growing pigs. Five sources of SBM from Argentina, China, and the United States, and 4 sources from Brazil and India were used. A basal diet based on maize and 23 diets based on maize and each source of SBM were formulated. Twenty-four growing barrows (initial BW: 25.0 ± 1.7 kg) were allotted to a 24 × 7 Youden square design with 24 diets and 7 periods of 14 days. Pigs were individually housed in metabolism crates for total but separate collection of feces and urine. The coefficient of apparent total tract digestibility (CATTD) of gross energy (GE) and concentrations of DE and ME in each diet were calculated using the direct procedure and the DE and ME in each source of SBM were then calculated by difference. Results indicated that there was a tendency (P < 0.10) for Brazilian SBM (17.6 MJ/kg) to have greater concentration of GE than SBM from China and the United States (17.3 MJ/kg). The CATTD of GE in SBM from the United States (0.85), China (0.86), and Argentina (0.86) was greater (P < 0.05) than in SBM from India (0.83). Values for the concentration of DE and ME were calculated on a dry matter basis. Concentrations of DE and ME in Indian SBM were the least (P < 0.05) among countries, and Argentinian SBM had a greater concentration of DE and ME than SBM from the United States. There were no differences in the CATTD of GE among sources of SBM within each country and no differences in the concentration of DE or ME were observed among sources of SBM within Argentina or the United States. However, there were differences in the concentration of DE and ME among sources of SBM collected in India and in China, and a tendency (P < 0.10) for differences in the concentration of ME among sources of SBM collected in Brazil. Therefore, based on the four or five sources of SBM collected from each country it was concluded that SBM from Argentina and the United States were less variable than those from the other countries.