Essential amino acids a better measure of soybean feed value
Soybean buyers from around the globe have long been tracking the protein and oil content of the soybeans they purchase. For good reason, as crude protein has been considered essential in the growth of livestock, poultry and fish.
But the dynamics of the soybean are still being discovered, and further research points toward essential amino acids (EAA) being the driving force in growth in livestock.
“We don’t really concentrate on oil and protein here,” Bruce Schmoll told a delegation of Japanese pork and beef buyers who recently visited his Claremont, Minnesota, farm.
Schmoll, a Minnesota Soybean Growers Association board member and treasurer of the U.S. Meat and Export Federation, says essential amino acids are the key to livestock production.
“If a hog producer can get that product to market quicker, it is cheaper to raise that hog, and meat prices should be cheaper,” he told the Japanese buyers.
Essential amino acids are nothing new in Minnesota, or in South Dakota or North Dakota. The three-state area has invested time and money into studying the importance of critical amino acid value (CAAV).
Traditionally, crude protein has been the primary method of measuring the value of a feed ingredient. But crude protein percentages are only an estimate of the total amino acids based on the level of nitrogen detected. Throughout the northern region, colder temperatures and shorter growing seasons limit nitrogen fixing in the soybean plant. However, new technology allows for better examination of soybeans. With near-infrared spectroscopy analysis and other modern scientific measurement tools, it is now possible to buy feed ingredients based on their CAAV, which is found by adding the sum of the five most critical amino acids as a percentage of crude protein.
“We have found that low-crude-protein soybeans in Minnesota can have a much higher value than a high-crude-protein soybean when you look at what livestock really needs, and that is the essential amino acids,” says Sam Ziegler, director of marketing programs for Minnesota Soybean.
Amino acids are the foundational organic compounds of protein. Livestock, poultry and farm-raised fish require certain EAA to synthesize protein for overall health, fetal development, muscle growth and production of meat, milk and eggs. The five critical amino acids are cysteine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan and lysine.
A United Soybean Board (USB) study conducted in 2013 shows that soybean EAA content is high when crude protein levels are lower. Research from several sources, including the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University and U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), shows northern-grown soybeans that have lower crude protein actually have higher CAAV than soybeans with high crude-protein scores.
For Minnesota and states in the northern region, that’s good news.
“Technologies have improved and are priced where the customers can afford to have testing done on the amino-acid level on each load of soybean meal, showing them the true value of what they are buying and feeding,” adds Ziegler.
Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) Vice-Chair Keith Schrader says the MSR&PC has been studying amino acids for several years.
“We’re still in the presentation stage when it comes to essential amino acids,” he says. “The important thing is people are talking about it. There is more talk coming back to the industry about amino acids. People are asking for essential amino acids, and that’s good.”
- See more at: http://unitedsoybean.org/article/its-whats-inside-that-counts/#sthash.utbvXoLV.dpuf