The ExPress® Process for Soy Meal – The Right Choice for Poultry
Poultry nutritionists have choices when assembling diets for poultry producers. If you’ve spent much time here on our blog, or the website in general, you are aware of the advantages and how Insta-Pro equipment processes a unique and superior version of soy meal.
First, it’s critical to understand that all soy meals are not created equal. While there are many mechanical processes for making soy meal, end products of differing quality will be produced if different equipment is used. Equipment lines may look very similar, but birds won’t be able to extract the same amounts of energy and nutrients from these different meals (see here and here).
At Insta-Pro, we’re constantly working to improve what we do, and this is driven by the results of animal feeding experiments. Indeed, our very first published study, a trial conducted by the University of Minnesota in 1971, used layers and indicated that high-shear dry extruded soy (produced with Insta-Pro equipment) could be used to improve feed efficiency versus commodity, solvent-extracted soybean meal and added fat.
More recently, a study conducted by Virginia Tech indicated how ExPress® soy meal (high-shear dry extrusion followed by mechanical oil pressing) improves feed efficiency. The layers ate less feed – about 80 grams per bird over the 15–19-week pullet phase and 19-37 weeks of the laying phase – when ExPress® meal was used in place of commodity, solvent-extracted soybean meal and oil. Often, the added fat required with commodity soybean meal is quite expensive. Added oils in a solvent-extracted diet can make up as much as 20% of total diet costs but switching to ExPress® soymeal can save up to $20.12 per ton in feed costs.
Not forgetting about broilers, ExPress® soy meal is used in broiler formulations around the world. A study conducted at Iowa State University in 2020 showed how switching to ExPress® soy meal helps birds get to market 4.8 days quicker, while consuming less feed per bird.
Why does this matter to your operation? It is important to repeat that all soy meal ingredients are not the same – different mechanical processing lines produce meals with different qualities, nutrient availabilities and the birds will respond appropriately. Also, commodity soybean meal, based on hexane extraction of oil, produces soy meal of lower digestibility and energy value.
Speak with us about using a better version of soy meal, generated with the ExPress® process, for enhancing feed efficiency, productivity, and reducing diet costs in poultry.
