The efficacy of fermentation on zinc bioavailability in soybean meal was studied in growing pigs. Fifteen growing pigs, average initial body weight and age of 20kg and 8 weeks, were fed a soybean meal based-diet (SBM diet), a soybean meal based diet added with monosodium phosphate at 7.5g/kg of air dry matter (SBM+P diet), or a fermented soybean meal-based diet (FSBM diet) for 30 days. Zinc concentration in each diet was almost the lower limit of its requirement in the growing pigs. The FSBM group showed higher zinc concentrations in the femoral cortex and serum than did the other groups. These results suggested that fermentation of soybean meal improved zinc bioavailability in growing pigs.
