According to national standards, soybean meal is divided into three grades, namely, primary soybean meal, secondary soybean meal and tertiary soybean meal. Judging from the current domestic soybean meal spot market, the total domestic soybean meal processing (excluding imported soybean meal) in100000 tons in 1999, of which the first-class soybean meal accounts for about 20%, the second-class soybean meal accounts for about 75% and the third-class soybean meal accounts for about 5%. The circulation change of tertiary soybean meal is mainly related to the quality of soybean. Judging from the market demand of different grades of soybean meal, a few powerful large feed mills in China use first-class soybean meal, and most feed mills mainly use second-class soybean meal (protein content is 43%). Secondary soybean meal is still the mainstream product in the domestic soybean meal consumption market, and tertiary soybean meal is rarely used.

Soybean meal is generally irregular and fragmented, with light yellow to light brown color and the smell of baked soybeans. The main components of soybean meal are: protein 40% ~ 48%, lysine 2.5% ~ 3.0%, tryptophan 0.6% ~ 0.7% and methionine 0.5% ~ 0.7%. Soybean meal is the largest and most widely used of cottonseed meal, peanut meal and rapeseed meal 12 animal and vegetable oil meal feed products. As a kind of high protein, soybean meal is the main raw material for making livestock feed, and can also be used for making pastry food, health food, cosmetics and antibiotics.

About 85% of soybean meal is used to feed poultry and pigs, and various amino acids contained in soybean meal are suitable for the nutritional needs of poultry and pigs. Experiments show that the amino acids contained in soybean meal alone are enough to balance the nutrition of poultry and pigs without adding extra animal protein, thus promoting the nutrition absorption of livestock. Soybean meal has been used to the greatest extent in poultry and pig breeding. Only when the unit protein cost of cottonseed meal and peanut meal is much lower than that of soybean meal will they be considered for use. In fact, soybean meal has become the benchmark for comparison with other sources in protein.

In the feeding process of dairy cows, delicious and digestible soybean meal can increase milk production. Soybean meal is also one of the most important oilseed cakes in beef cattle breeding. Soybean meal is also used to make pet food. Simple mixed food of corn and soybean meal has the same value as food made of high animal protein. In recent years, soybean meal has also been widely used in aquaculture. A variety of amino acids contained in soybean meal can completely meet the special needs of fish for amino acids.

Use of soybean meal in feed industry (%)

Poultry 52

Pig 29

Niu 7

Cow 6

Pet 2

Food industry ii

Others 2

Total 100