Date of Graduation

7-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Poultry Science (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Poultry Science

Advisor/Mentor

Parsons, Benjamin

Committee Member

Graha, Danielle

Second Committee Member

Brister, Roy

Third Committee Member

Weimer, Shawna

Keywords

broiler chickens; low oligosaccharide; soybean meal; turkey poults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal to optimize poultry nutrition by the effects of feeding the soybean meal to roosters, broiler chickens, and turkeys. Two research objectives were evaluated to determine whether high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal would have increased nutritional value. The first objective assessed the metabolizable energy (ME) content of a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal compared to a conventional soybean meal. Using roosters, broiler chickens, and turkey poults, three bioassays were conducted to evaluate the ME of the soybean meal. Results demonstrated that there was no effect on nitrogen corrected true ME of the soybean meal in roosters. At 21 d-of-age, broiler chickens had higher nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) when fed the low oligosaccharide soybean meal. Additionally, turkeys fed the low oligosaccharide soybean meal had a higher AMEn at 9 d of-age compared to the conventional soybean meal. This data highlights the potential age effect of feeding poultry oligosaccharides. The second objective evaluated the amino acid digestibility of a low oligosaccharide soybean meal compared to conventional soybean meal. Similar to the previous objective, three bioassays (roosters, broiler chickens, and turkeys) were conducted evaluating the effects of amino acid digestibility. Results showed that both meals had high amino acid digestibility, however, the low oligosaccharide soybean meal contained a higher digestible amino acid content. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that feeding a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal has increased protein, reduced fiber, greater ME, and higher digestible amino acid content compared to a conventional soybean meal, indicating that high protein low oligosaccharide has increased nutritional value for poultry.

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