Consistency, digestibility and energy advantages of U.S. Soy translate into better growth, feed efficiency and flock uniformity
In today’s broiler industry, performance expectations have never been higher. Advances in genetics, housing and health management continue to push the boundaries of what birds can achieve, placing nutrition firmly at the center of flock success.
Among those ingredients, soybean meal plays a foundational role in modern poultry diets. It supplies essential amino acids and energy that allow birds to reach their genetic potential, making its consistency and digestibility critical to overall production outcomes. However, not all soybean meal is high quality and sustainable – country of origin does matter.
The connection between soybean meal origin and bird performance was the focus of a recent discussion with Dr. Tom D’Alfonso, Worldwide Director of Animal Nutrition at the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). Drawing on global research and field experience, D’Alfonso outlined how soybean meal derived from U.S. Soy delivers measurable nutritional advantages that translate into practical benefits for poultry producers.
All soy is not created equal
The global soybean market offers poultry producers multiple sourcing options, with major volumes originating from the United States, Brazil and Argentina. While those products may appear interchangeable on paper, D’Alfonso said their nutritional performance can differ in meaningful ways.
“To achieve the growth, performance and feed efficiency that we expect in today's high performing broiler operations, reliable sources of essential nutrients in the diet are a must,” he explained. “If they are less digestible or highly variable in nutrient composition, including essential amino acids and metabolizable energy, the flock is not going to perform to their genetic potential.”
According to D’Alfonso, consistency begins long before soybeans reach a feed mill. He pointed to farming practices in the United States as a foundational driver of soybean meal quality.
“It is the sustainable farming practices of the U.S. Soy farmer that leads to the high quality, consistently highly digestible product,” he said. “More than 95% of soybeans produced in the U.S. are grown on family-owned multi-generational farms. They know their land, their soil and their soybean crop, and they ultimately want the next generation to take over their land and legacy.”
U.S. Soybean farmers rely heavily on precision agriculture technologies to manage inputs and improve uniformity. They were some of the first to use technologies like global positioning satellites (GPS) and precision farming techniques to apply only what's needed to the crop and the soil. These sustainable practices reduce waste while making the crop more uniform from field to field and from season to season.
Drying practices and digestibility losses
The U.S. Soy harvest plays a critical role in soybean meal quality. One of the most significant differences between U.S. Soy and soybeans produced in tropical climates is moisture management.
“The soybeans harvested in the United States are dried naturally in the field and do not require mechanical drying as needed in tropical climates,” D’Alfonso said. “In tropical regions like Brazil, the beans are harvested wet and need to be dried before they are processed.” That drying process, he explained, introduces variability that can directly compromise nutrient digestibility.
“Mechanical dryers typically use wood fire logs from eucalyptus trees,” he said. “This process is not efficient or consistent. Some of the beans are still wet, and some of the beans are over dried or even heat damage. We know that heat damage lowers the digestibility of the essential amino acids and calories in soybeans.”
For broiler producers, those losses translate into uncertainty at the feed formulation level. Poultry producers are counting on the core ingredient of soybean meal in the diet to provide the essential amino acids and calories to get their birds to grow to their genetic potential.
“They will if they're feeding soybean meal made from U.S. Soy. If not, they can't count on the nutrients and must discount the amount of calories and digestible amino acids in feed formulas which is costly,” D’Alfonso said. “To get high performing birds, you need high quality ingredients like U.S. Soy.”
Small digestibility differences have costly consequences
One of the most striking examples of origin-related variability comes from standardized ileal digestibility data for lysine, a critical amino acid in broiler diets.
“Standardized ileal digestibility data shows U.S. Soy with 93.8% lysine digestibility compared to 92.4% for Brazilian and 91.5% for Argentine meal,” D’Alfonso noted.
While those differences may appear insignificant, he emphasized that their biological and economic impact compounds rapidly. Moisture variability alone can dilute nutrient concentrations, pushing lysine levels well below formulation targets.
“Lysine is a great example. The total amount of expected lysine in soybean meal should be 3%, but you don't get 3% all the time if you aren’t using U.S. Soy. It could be 2.7% or 2.5% or less,” D’Alfonso explained. “Another problem that occurs is it's not the total amino acid that's most important, it's the digestibility of the essential amino acids.”
Even small reductions in digestibility, he said, force producers to pay one way or another.
“You're going to be paying in either higher feed costs because of lower digestibility, or you're going to be paying for it in terms of lower animal performance because of lower digestibility,” he said.
When nutritional quality slips, performance follows
In commercial operations, inconsistent growth often triggers health investigations. But D’Alfonso said nutrition is frequently the underlying culprit once disease is ruled out.
“When you start seeing animal performance decrease, the first thing that may come to mind is a disease challenge,” he said. “Once that's eliminated, it's always the feed – it always nutrition.”
According to D’Alfonso, soybean meal made from U.S. Soy could carry a higher upfront price and still deliver superior value.
“Lowering the cost of feed by using a higher quality ingredient and adopting a preference for soybean meal made from U.S. Soy means the soybean meal could be $25 per metric ton more expensive and still provide extra value in feed formulation because it's providing all the extra nutrients,” he explained. “When we look at animal performance, like rate of gain and feed efficiency, the value goes to $50 per metric ton. The reason is that animal protein is more valuable than animal feed, and it will bring payback at the processing plant.”
Rethinking soybean meal energy contribution
Energy valuation represents another area where soybean meal origin plays a decisive role. D’Alfonso said recent research challenges long-held assumptions about the caloric contribution of soybean meal, indicating U.S. Soy has a 2,400 kcal/kg metabolizable energy advantage.
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve been undervaluing soybean meal in our feed formulations,” he said. “Regardless of the system of energy you're using, soybean meal is providing as many calories per kilogram or pound as corn,” he said. “And that is remarkable.”
That value, he explained, reflects both ingredient quality and genetic progress in poultry.
Animals are better able to convert dietary amino acids into animal protein at a lower energy cost. However, that advantage diminishes when soybean meal quality becomes inconsistent.
“If you're using soybean meal made from soy from Brazil or Argentina, you need to discount it,” he said. “You need to lower your expectations about the level of calories by about 100 kcal/kg or 45 kcal/lb.”
This is due to the lower digestibility because of heat damage and some beans from Brazil and Argentina are harvested early and are not fully mature. Thus, they don’t contain the usual energy content and are more variability due to high moisture content. You can't rely on the amount of energy being as high as it is in U.S. Soy, he said.
Translating nutrition into processor premiums
Improved digestibility and energy utilization are ultimately demonstrated at the processing plant, where uniformity and yield determine revenue.
“Getting the birds to the processing plant uniformly and capturing the maximum dollars per kilogram or pound is the name of the game,” D’Alfonso said. Uniform flocks, he explained, allow integrators to meet strict customer specifications.
“KFC and Yum Brands are famous for this,” he said. “They have very tight tolerances at the processing plant, which means that birds that arrive at the processing plant within their specified target weight range are given a premium value than those over or under weight. They reason is they need the pieces to be uniform, so when they're cooked in restaurants, they are cooked properly and uniformly – not undercooked or overcooked. Flock uniformity can provide great payback at the processor.”
Consistent nutrition plays a central role in achieving that outcome.
“If you want a uniform flock, the animals in the entire flock must be growing at their genetic potential,” D’Alfonso said. “The overall effect is the flock is more uniform. At the same time, they're growing faster, converting feed more efficiently and getting to the processing plant sooner. This also means that over time, you can get a higher volume of flock cycles.”
Thinking beyond least-cost formulation
D’Alfonso cautioned against evaluating feed programs solely on cost per ton, arguing that profitability depends on revenue as much as expense control.
“You might be paying a slightly lower price for soybeans from other parts of the world but you're getting water,” he said of high-moisture soybean meal. “You're not getting the essential amino acids, the calories and the nutrients that your flock needs.”
He urged nutritionists to rethink formulation objectives.
“Nutritionists are starting to think about ways of formulating feed differently, not using least cost per ton of feed but maximum profit per unit applied,” D’Alfonso said. “To be profitable, you need two things: you need to control cost and focus on revenue. Feed conversion, the most important factor nutritionists look at, doesn't have a single dollar value associated with it. It is simply the amount of feed per an amount of animal produced. We're not always considering ways to increase revenue. You can do that by raising uniform, fast-growing chickens raised sustainably with U.S. Soy. It brings so much value.”
The bottom line on origin
Asked for a single takeaway for poultry nutritionists and producers, D’Alfonso emphasized consistency.
“Just look at the data,” he said. “Consistency – year after year, month after month, load after load – that quality U.S. Soy brings payback. And there's no quality without consistency,” he added, “that would be my take home message.”
For broiler producers navigating tighter margins and higher expectations, that message underscores a simple reality: ingredient origin is not a minor detail, but a strategic decision with direct implications for performance, profitability and long-term sustainability.
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