By: CJ Bio

The poultry feed industry is currently facing significant challenges due to rising raw material prices and supply chain instability. Feed accounts for up to 70% of total production costs, and approximately 95% of feed costs are directed toward meeting energy and protein requirements. With the increasing price of raw materials, utilizing alternative protein sources can serve as a strategy to reduce feed costs.

When selecting protein sources, several factors must be considered, including:

• Amino acid profile

• Energy content

• Anti-nutritional factors (ANFs)

• Nutrient content variability

• Availability and quality consistency

• Cost

• Environmental impact

• Livestock performance and welfare

Furthermore, protein digestibility is a critical factor. Strategies focusing solely on the “least-cost” approach often result in the use of ingredients with low digestibility.

In feed formulation practice, rations with high digestible protein content can still contain significant amounts of undigested protein. This protein enters the hindgut and is fermented by microbes, which can negatively impact gastrointestinal health. Undigested protein can also:

• Decrease livestock performance

• Increase nitrogen excretion

• Trigger stress

• Increase the incidence of foot pad dermatitis (FPD)

Therefore, nutritionists need to utilize high-digestibility ingredients alongside technologies such as feed-grade amino acids and enzymes to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Soybean Meal (SBM) and Anti-Nutritional Factors

SBM is the most common protein source in poultry rations due to its balanced and highly digestible amino acid profile. However, SBM also contains anti-nutritional factors, including: Allergens, Trypsin inhibitors, Non-starch polysaccharides (galactomannans), and Oligosaccharides (raffinose and stachyose), which can trigger an intestinal immune response and increase fecal moisture.

High levels of SBM in rations can trigger diet-induced immune responses and disrupt gut health, especially in young chicks. SBM also increases the dietary electrolyte balance (DEB), which can lead to increased water consumption and wet droppings. The combination of wet litter and high nitrogen increases the risk of FPD.

SBM Reduction Strategies

To reduce SBM without sacrificing nutrition, effective strategies include:

1. Feed-grade amino acids to balance the amino acid profile.

2. Alternative protein sources (DDGS, MBM, PBM, fermented SBM, etc.).

3. Protease enzymes.

The Role of Synthetic Amino Acids

The use of synthetic amino acids such as lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, arginine, valine, and isoleucine allows for a reduction in dietary crude protein (CP) without compromising the nutritional requirements of the poultry.

The benefits include reducing feed costs, decreasing nitrogen excretion, lowering water consumption, improving litter quality, and enhancing gut health and foot integrity.

Feed Formulation Study

In a broiler starter feed simulation: a standard corn–SBM diet contains 23.72% CP. With the addition of L-valine, protein can be reduced to 22.58%, thereby lowering feed costs. While using alternative ingredients (DDGS, MBM, PBM) does reduce SBM usage and costs, the crude protein value actually increases due to lower digestibility.

This indicates that the use of alternative proteins must always be balanced with synthetic amino acids—especially the 4th and 5th limiting amino acids—to keep CP levels standardized. DDGS and corn by-products are high in leucine. Excessive leucine accelerates the breakdown of valine and isoleucine, requiring adjustments to prevent hidden deficiencies.

Conclusion

Utilizing alternative raw materials with diverse protein sources to reduce dependence on soybean meal (SBM), combined with feed amino acid supplementation to balance the amino acid profile and meet poultry nutritional requirements, aims to lower ration costs and reduce SBM-related anti-nutritional factors. This strategy impacts ration formulation significantly, including the concentration of amino acids used in the feed.

Beyond DDGS, MBM, and PBM, other protein sources can be utilized, such as insect meal, corn gluten meal (CGM), peanuts, palm kernel meal, and others. The lower digestibility of most of these ingredients will cause an increase in crude protein in the ration when used to replace SBM. Reducing protein through feed amino acid supplementation—such as L-valine, L-arginine, and/or L-isoleucine—has been proven to reduce nitrogen excretion, improve foot pad health, and enhance livestock performance.

Maintaining the balance between ingredient quality, digestibility, dietary crude protein, anti-nutritional factors, and amino acid balance (such as BCAAs) will optimize broiler gastrointestinal health, environmental conditions, nutrient excretion, animal performance, and ultimately, profitability.

This article is an excerpt from the February 2026 edition of Poultry Indonesia Magazine. To subscribe or for more information, contact: https://wa.me/+6287780120754 or sirkulasipoultry@gmail.com.