Soybean meal sourced from Argentina, Brazil, China, India and USA as an ingredient in practical diets for Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Soybean meal (SBM) from China, Argentina, Brazil, the USA and India was collected to evaluate their performances in the diet of Pacific white shrimp. SBM samples were analysed for proximate composition, amino acid profiles, sugars, fibres, macro and micro minerals. A growth trial was conducted using SBM-based test diets (350 g kg(-1) protein and 80 g kg(-1) lipid), and a digestibility trial was carried out from digestibility diets formulated by mixing the basal diet and test ingredients (70:30) on a dry matter basis. Significantly higher growth (as standardized Thermal growth coefficient) was observed in shrimp fed SBM from China over Brazilian SBM. However, growth performances of shrimp fed SBM sourced from USA, Argentina and India were not different to that of Chinese and Brazilian SBM. No significant differences were observed for apparent dry matter, energy and protein digestibility coefficients (<0.05) of SBM among the countries. The differences observed in the ingredient chemical profile of SBM between countries were not reflected in the growth and digestibility data of shrimp. These results highlight the importance of multiple variables influencing the biological value of soybean meals and that simplified generalizations such as country of origin, poorly define the quality of an ingredient.

Automated summary

The study found that Chinese soybean meal showed better growth performance in the diet of Pacific white shrimp, compared to Brazilian soybean meal. However, the growth performances of shrimp fed soybean meal from the USA, Argentina, and India were not significantly different from that of Chinese and Brazilian soybean meal. There were no significant differences in dry matter, energy, and protein digestibility coefficients among soybean meal from different countries.