Adult Leghorn roosters were precision-fed 44% protein soybean meal (SBM) or 80% ethanol-extracted soybean meal (ESBM) to determine nutritional differences due to the removal of oligosaccharides. Dry-matter digestibility and TMEn as well as apparent hemicellulose and cellulose digestion were determined. The transit time, rate of passage, and pH of the cecal contents were also established with roosters that had consumed a .3% chromic-oxide diet that contained SBM or ESBM. The protein content of the SBM and the ESBM was 46.1 and 64.4%, respectively. The true-dry matter digestibility of SBM was 54%. The TMEn of the SBM on a dry-matter basis was 2,794 kcal per kg; and the apparent hemicellulose and cellulose digestibility was 9% and 0%, respectively. The true dry-matter digestibility of the ESBM was 67%. On a dry-matter basis, the TMEn of the ESBM was 3,368 kcal per kg; and the apparent hemicellulose and cellulose digestibility was 62% and 35%, respectively. Oligosaccharide digestion occurred mainly anterior to the ileo-cecal junction. Hemicellulose and cellulose digestion occurred predominantly in the lower gastrointestinal tract. The transit time for the ESBM diet was 115 min, compared to 71 min for the SBM diet. Based on a 16-h collection of excreta, the rate of passage was approximately 50% slower for the ESBM diet than for the SBM diet. The pH of the cecal contents from roosters consuming the ESBM diet was 7.21 versus 6.51 for the SBM diet.

Forty-day-old Arbor Acre x Ross male broilers were precision-fed 44% soybean meal (SBM) or 80%-etnanol extracted SBM (ESBM) to determine differences in TMEQ values due to the removal of oligosaccharides. The SBM had a dry matter crude protein content of 47.2% and the TMEn value of 2,546 kcal/kg. The ESBM had a dry matter crude protein content of 64.4% and TMEn value of 3,117 kcal/kg. In a second experiment, Leghorn roosters were precision-fed SBM, ESBM, ESBM containing 5.3% raffinose (RAF), or ESBM plus the alcohol extract (EXT). The TME,, of ESBM with Leghorn roosters was approximately 420 kcal/kg higher than that of SBM. The TMEQ values for RAF and EXT were similar to that of SBM In a third experiment, SBM and freeze-dried ESBM (FDE) were precision-fed to Leghorn roosters. Excreta were collected for 48, 72, and 96 h. The TMEn values did not differ significantly with the longer collection times. Significantly higher TMEn values were observed for FDE than for SBM for all three collection periods.Alcohol extraction increased the TMEn of SBM as determined with both roosters and broilers. The recombination of the alcohol extract or an equivalent amount of raffinose to the ESBM resulted in TME,, values that were not significantly different from that of SBM (Key words: ethanol extract, soybean meal, nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy, oligosaccharides, freeze-drying) 1991 Poultry Science 70:892-895