Extruded Soy Can Be Used in Piglet Diets When PEDv from Blood Products is a Concern
Recently, swine producers have been dealing with a devastating outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv). As the name implies, PEDv causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, and mortality among piglets without prior exposure is nearly 100%.
Further complicating an already bad situation, piglet diets typically contain blood products for reasons discussed here, and at least some of these products test positive for PEDv. However, as the article in the last link describes, a positive DNA test (PCR test) does not necessarily mean that the sample contains viable, virulent PEDv. Also, spray drying of blood products will deactivate many viruses.
Even so, many piglet diets are now formulated without blood products. Several alternatives are mentioned, but in particular, the article identifies “purified vegetable proteins” as an option to replace blood products. The author goes on to mention soy as one choice, and that all “purified vegetable proteins” must have very low levels of anti-nutritional factors.
I was curious to learn more about this particular alternative, so I contacted the author to get more information. He wrote back and said the following:
“Yes, I have actually extensive experience replacing the protein fraction of plasma with all kinds of proteins, among which extruded soy is one of my favorites, being the least expensive – again assuming TIA is very very low (something rare). In fact, I have made Phase 1 formulas without plasma with up to 30% extruded soy.”
Note that TIA, mentioned above, stands for trypsin inhibitor activity, which is a common measure of antinutrients in soy products.
Insta-Pro International has been making extruders and mechanical oil presses for soybean processing for decades. Extruded full-fat soy and ExPress® (extruded, defatted) soybean meal have been used successfully as high-quality ingredients in swine diets. Insta-Pro extrusion will reduce antinutrients in soybeans and provide high-quality protein and energy from oil for piglet diets.
