Recently, the Poultry Nutrition and Feed Innovation Team from the Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences explored the impact of fermented soybean meal (SBM) and its fermentation process on the performance, egg quality and health of laying hens. The related findings were published in the Animal Nutrition Journal.

The increasing demand for feedstuffs with high nutrition value and digestibility to improve laying performance and animal health remains the target of poultry producers and researchers. Additionally, in order to optimize gut health for production efficiency, microbial fermentation could be utilized for production of fermented soybean for its utilization in poultry nutrition. However, the question of optimal inclusion levels remains controversial as previous literatures are inconsistent.

The microbial fermentation of SBM improved the nutritional value, likely by reducing trypsin inhibitors, increasing the crude protein content, and enhancing the bioavailability of amino acids and minerals. The fermented SBM improved gut morphology, amino acid digestibility, immune and antioxidant function, egg production and egg quality of laying hens.

Furthermore, the balance of the gut microbiota was noticeably in favor of the beneficial microbes, i.e., the abundance of Lachnospiraceae, E. coprostanoligenes, Weisella and Staphylococcus was improved while Anaerostipes was reduced. Our findings are an indication that the fermentation of soybeans may be an effective method for improving the nutritional quality of the corn-soybean diet and providing probiotics for animal health. Therefore, the fermented SBM could be used as a feed ingredient in the diet of laying hens at an inclusion level of 2.5% or 5.0%. The results would provide theoretical reference and practical basis for utilization of fermented SBM in diet of laying hens by poultry producers.

This study was supported by Beijing Innovation Consortium of Agriculture Research System, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program.

Original link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2024.03.015

Source: Uchechukwu Edna Obianwuna, (qiukai@caas.cn)