Soybeans
In the United States the major source of protein in poultry diets is soybean meal. The price and availability of organic soybean meal has resulted in producers looking for alternative protein sources for their diets.
Roasted whole soybeans
There has been an increased interest in the use of whole soybean meals, especially in organic poultry diets. Farmers can grower soybeans but can not get them mechanically extracted (only approved method for organic soybean meal production since the more commonly used solvent extraction method is not permitted). When whole soybeans are used they must be roasted to de-activated the trpysin-inhibitors they contain. This anti-nutritional factors is typically deactivated by the temperatures involved in oil extraction and the production of soybean meal.
Research has shown that it is possible to include 15% roasted soybeans in starter turkey diets or replace 100% of the soybean meal with roasted soybeans in grower and finisher diets for female turkeys with no adverse affects on growth performance or carcass composition.
