The utilization of traditional soybean meal in pet food has been limited by its low methionine content and flatulence-causing oligosaccharides. Microbially enhanced soybean protein and Aspergillus oryzae fermented soybean meal (F-SBM) are bioprocessed soybean meal products with potentially improved nutritional value. Four complete and balanced extruded diets with different soybean products (30% soybean meal, SBM; 30% soybean meal plus 1% dried A. oryzae biomass product, AMF; 30% fermented soybean meal, FSBM; and 18% soybean protein isolate, SPI) were fed to 12 beagle dogs in a 4 × 4 Latin Square design. Feces were scored for quality and collected to calculate apparent digestibility. Fresh feces were collected for pH, ammonia and volatile fatty acids evaluations. Dogs fed FSBM diet had similar nutrient digestibility and colonic fermentation indicator levels with dogs fed SBM diet, whereas dogs fed SPI diet had the greatest nutrient digestibility and less colonic fermentation products. Diet palatability evaluation results from a commercial kennel indicated that the FSBM was less palatable than SBM but both were acceptable when fed to dogs. Further research is needed to improve palatability of fermented soybean meal and to evaluate possible impacts of fermented soybean meal on colonic microbiome composition when included in pet food.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.