2017
Use of Exogenous Enzymes to Improve Nutritive Value of Soybean Hulls
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Contributor/Checkoff:
North Dakota Soybean Council
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Economic studies
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Uchenna Anele, North Dakota State University, Carrington Research Extension Center
Co-Principal Investigators:
Chanda Engel, North Dakota State University, Carrington Research Extension Center
Project Code:
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
North Dakota Soybean Council
$15,876
Leveraged Funding (Non-Checkoff):
State Board of Ag Research and Education is contributing $15,876.00
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Institution Funded:
North Dakota State University, Carrington Research Extension Center
$15,876
Brief Project Summary:

The experiment will be conducted at the Carrington Research Extension Center and will be complimentary to other studies focusing on the development of nutritional and feeding strategies of using co-products in beef cattle production. Co-products can be good alternatives to traditional grains in terms of reducing feed costs but with a caveat. For example, soybean hulls contain high proportions of digestible fiber which may result in under-utilization in pre-weaned calves. Enzyme products have shown to increased fiber digestion in several co-product studies. Preliminary studies (in vitro or in situ) will be carried out to select appropriate enzyme (based on improvement in fiber digestibility)...

Unique Keywords:
#economics
Information And Results
Final Project Results

Update:

View uploaded report Word file

Executive Summary

Project Title: Use of exogenous enzymes to improve nutritive value of soybean hulls
Principal Investigator: Uchenna Anele, Animal Scientist, NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center, 663 Hwy. 281 NE, PO Box 219, Carrington, ND 58421-0219, 701-652-2951, uchenna.anele@ndsu.edu
Co-investigators: Chanda Engel, NDSU-CREC, Animal Science Research Specialist

Introduction:
Feed is the single largest variable input cost in any livestock enterprise and improvement in feed efficiency can be a significant multiplier. We hypothesize that feed efficiency of calves can be improved, resulting in reduced feed costs and manure handling by using exogenous enzymes. This can be accomplished through identifying specific exogenous enzymes that target fiber digestion in calves fed soybean hull-based creep feed.
We started out with 10 exogenous enzyme treatments (NSPase, ABM, DYX, AMA, CUL, Mix1, Mix2, Mix3, Mix4 and Mix5) which were evaluated in the laboratory using the in vitro gas technique. This approach allowed us to measure gas production and dry matter digestibility of the different enzyme treatments. Gas production reflects the generation of short-chain fatty acids and microbial mass which are utilized by the animal to meet their nutrient requirements. Higher gas volume was noted for NSPase, ABM and DYX treatments compared with the other enzymes. Enzyme treatments did not result in higher dry matter disappearance but NSPase and ABM treatments had numerically higher (3% or more) dry matter disappearance values compared with the control.
As a result, we selected NSPase and ABM treatments for further evaluation by using cannulated steers (in situ bag technique). Compared with the control (no enzyme), both NSPase and ABM resulted in higher effective dry matter digestibility at low, medium and high feeding levels. Differences in dry matter digestibility as a result of enzyme inclusion ranged from 4 to 9%. Additionally, enzyme treatments resulted in 32 and 29% increase in neutral detergent fiber digestibility for NSPase and ABM, respectively. Overall, these two (in vitro and in situ) techniques were utilized to identify an exogenous enzyme (NSPase) that can potentially increase dry matter and fiber digestibility of soybean hulls in a creep feed.
Results of the creep study showed that the exogenous enzyme had no effect on final body weight, average daily gain, G:F and dry matter digestibility. Differences in dry matter digestibility between the two treatments were similar to values observed with the cannulated steers. Dry matter intake was greater for the control treatment. Lower dry matter intake in calves supplemented with the enzyme treatment did not affect their performance as they have similar average daily gain with the control treatment. The lack of difference on the effect of pen nested within the treatments for final BW, average daily gain, and G:F was expected because of the small pen number used in this study. Moreover, inclusion of exogenous enzyme in the ration of creep-fed calves have the potential to increase profit, as calves on the enzyme treatment consumed less feed (˜ half a pound) without any significant difference in average daily gain..

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.