Applying Wonheug soybean-sourced meal in broiler diets improves growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass yield, and tibia characteristics

This study evaluated the potential of Wonheug, a novel soybean cultivar, as an alternative soybean meal (SBM) source in broiler diets for improving growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass yield, and tibia characteristics. Wonheug soybeans were processed via hexane solvent extraction to produce SBM for experimental diets. Two SBM types, a commercial SBM and Wonheug-sourced SBM, were compared over a 42-day feeding trial. A total of 200 day-old Arbor Acre broilers (mean initial body weight, 43.90 ± 0.37 g) were randomly assigned to two groups, each with five replicates of 20 birds. Compared with commercial SBM, Wonheug-sourced SBM contained higher crude protein (<i>P</i> = 0.028), phosphorus (<i>P</i> = 0.004), and methionine (<i>P</i> = 0.002) contents. Broilers fed the Wonheug-sourced SBM-based diet exhibited greater body weight gain (<i>P</i> = 0.001), improved feed efficiency (<i>P</i> = 0.020), enhanced digestibility of crude protein (<i>P</i> = 0.044), calcium (<i>P</i> = 0.008), and phosphorus (<i>P</i> = 0.002), increased breast (<i>P</i> = 0.004) and leg meat (<i>P</i> = 0.027) yields, as well as better tibia characteristics, including weight (<i>P</i> = 0.020), length (<i>P</i> = 0.033), weight-to-length ratio (<i>P</i> = 0.019), and medullary canal diameter (<i>P</i> = 0.006). Therefore, the results obtained in the present study suggest that Wonheug-sourced SBM is a high-quality and functional feed ingredient which can enhance growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass yield, and tibia characteristics of broilers, thereby supporting more sustainable and efficient broiler production.