Raw soybeans contain antinutritional factors that make feeding whole soybeans to livestock almost impossible. The index below illustrates various methods of processing raw soybeans schematically:
The purpose of processing raw soybeans:
Processing soybeans not only increases the amount of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) in soy but also eliminates antinutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitor enzymes, lectins, hemagglutinins, and other allergenic proteins.
The presence of antinutritional factors in soybeans poses challenges for monogastric animals such as horses, poultry, and immature ruminants, but in mature ruminants, these factors are degraded by rumen microbes and become insignificant. Additionally, the presence of rumen undegradable protein (RUP) in mature ruminants and dairy cows is highly significant. As discussed earlier regarding protein, increasing RUP leads to increased passage of proteins through the rumen. Ultimately, enzymatic digestion of RUP occurs in the intestine, and the resulting amino acids are absorbed through the intestinal villi. These amino acids contribute to protein synthesis by body cells and provide essential amino acids.