The Effect of Methionine Supplementation of a Soybean Oil Meal—Purified Ration for Growing Pigs

Abstract

Studies were made of the effects of protein from whole egg and from soybean oil meal on the nitrogen retention and growth of pigs. When fed at a 10% level of protein the protein from soybean oil was less efficiently retained by growing pigs and had a significantly lower biological value than whole egg protein, but the addition of methionine to equal the amount in the whole egg made the soybean oil meal protein equal to the egg protein. The inclusion of a small percentage of whole egg protein in the methionine-supplemented soybean oil meal diet did not further enhance the value of the protein. On the semi-purified diet used in these tests, 1.8 gm of metabolic fecal nitrogen was excreted per kilogram of dry matter consumed.