Methionine as a Supplement to Soybean Oil Meal for Weanling Pigs

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of adding DL-methionine to a basal ration containing 22 percent protein from solvent extracted soybean oil meal, without supplemental choline or vitamin B₁₂, for weanling pigs. Growth, feed efficiency, and nitrogen balance data indicate that there was no significant advantage in adding supplemental DL-methionine to the sample of solvent extracted soybean oil meal used. Since soybean oil meal is lower in methionine than the other common swine feeds, including corn, the data suggest no practical need for methionine supplementation in swine rations containing good quality solvent extracted soybean oil meal as the only high protein feed. The data presented also show that the methionine requirement for growing-fattening pigs does not exceed 0.31 percent when the ration contains 0.38 percent cystine and 22 percent protein. This requirement of methionine plus cystine for swine is considerably lower than that required for chicks. Copyright © . .