The objective of this study was to evaluate the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), ME and fecal characteristics of adult dogs and puppies fed raw soybeans and their by-products.
Six treatments were evaluated: one reference diet based on a maize-poultry by-product meal and five extruded diets containing 70% of the ingredients of the reference diet and 30% of a soybean processed product. Six adult dogs and six puppies were used, and urease was reduced in all diets after extrusion, but trypsin inhibitor was reduced only in the diets containing SBM, DSM and raw soybeans. The feces of dogs fed soybean products were softer and had a lower pH (average of 5.91 vs. 6.05 for adult dogs fed soybean products and reference diets, respectively) and ammonia content (average of 3.82 vs. 4.32 g/kg for adult dogs fed soybean products and reference diets, respectively), except those fed the raw soybeans, which had similar fecal pH and ammonia values compared with those fed the reference diet.
Soybean products are good protein sources for both adult and growing dogs, provided they are heat treated before diet extrusion.
Source: A. P. Félix et al., 2013. Digestibility and metabolizable energy of raw soybeans manufactured with different processing treatments and fed to adult dogs and puppies. J Anim Sci online April 2013. doi: 10.2527/jas.2011-4662
