Rice DDGS has almost as much crude protein as soybean meal: 43.7% against 46.2% (as-fed) in the INRAE-CIRAD-AFZ feed tables. (The soybean meal entry is the tables’ “48% protein + oil” grade, close to Indian 46% soya DOC.) On paper you can swap them kilo for kilo. The catch is lysine: rice DDGS protein is low in it, and in poultry diets lysine is usually the next amino acid to run short after methionine. This guide shows, with one worked example, how much lysine you lose when DDGS replaces soybean meal, and how much feed-grade lysine puts it back.
- Per kg, soybean meal carries about 25.3 g of digestible lysine for poultry; rice DDGS about 8.6 g and corn DDGS about 5.5 g.
- Swapping 50 kg of soybean meal for 50 kg of rice DDGS in a tonne of broiler feed removes about 835 g of digestible lysine, roughly 7% of a grower diet’s requirement.
- To put it back you need about 1.1 kg of L-lysine HCl or 1.5–1.6 kg of L-lysine sulphate per tonne, depending on the product’s lysine content.
- Rice DDGS brings extra methionine, so the same swap slightly raises digestible methionine + cystine.
Protein is similar. Digestible lysine is not.
The table compares the standardised ileal digestible (SID) amino acids for poultry, per kg of ingredient as fed.
| Per kg, as-fed | Rice DDGS | Corn DDGS (regular) | Corn DDGS (oil < 6%) | Soybean meal (46% CP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude protein | 43.7% | 27.3% | 24.6% | 46.2% |
| SID lysine | 8.6 g | 5.5 g | 5.4 g | 25.3 g |
| SID methionine | 8.6 g | 4.5 g | 3.7 g | 5.9 g |
| SID methionine + cystine | 14.7 g | 8.8 g | 7.1 g | 11.4 g |
| SID threonine | 10.4 g | 7.1 g | 6.2 g | 14.7 g |
| SID tryptophan | 3.0 g | 1.7 g | 1.3 g | 5.7 g |
| AMEn, broiler | 2,520 kcal | 2,710 kcal | 2,210 kcal | 2,260 kcal |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
Source: INRAE-CIRAD-AFZ feed tables (feedtables.com), as-fed averages. The rice DDGS amino acid values rest on only two samples (tryptophan on one), so treat them as indicative and use your own lot analysis where you can.
Per 100 g of crude protein, rice DDGS supplies about 2.0 g of digestible lysine and corn DDGS about 2.0–2.2 g, against 5.5 g for soybean meal. So each kg of DDGS protein brings only about 36–40% of the digestible lysine of soybean-meal protein. Part of the gap is the protein itself (cereal protein is low in lysine) and part is digestibility: the tables give DDGS lysine a digestibility of 70–74%, against 88% for soybean meal.
Worked example: 50 kg of rice DDGS in place of 50 kg of soybean meal
Take a broiler grower diet and replace 50 kg of soybean meal with 50 kg of rice DDGS per tonne, leaving everything else the same. The change in each nutrient is simply 50 kg × (rice DDGS value − soybean meal value).
| Per tonne of feed | Change | % of diet | Ross grower need | Share of need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SID lysine | −835 g | −0.084% | 1.18% | −7% |
| SID threonine | −215 g | −0.021% | 0.79% | −3% |
| SID tryptophan | −135 g | −0.014% | 0.19% | −7% |
| SID Met + Cys | +165 g | +0.016% | 0.92% | +2% |
| Crude protein | −1.25 kg | −0.125% | – | – |
| AMEn | +13 kcal/kg | – | – | – |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
Requirements: Aviagen, Ross Broiler Nutrition Specifications 2022, Table 1, grower (11–24 days), digestible amino acids. Met + Cys = methionine + cystine. AMEn change is per kg of feed. Nutrient values from the table above.
Crude protein barely moves, and energy goes up slightly. Lysine is the problem: the diet loses about 835 g of digestible lysine per tonne, around 7% of what a grower bird needs. Tryptophan drops by a similar share, though the rice DDGS tryptophan figure rests on a single sample. Threonine falls a little. Methionine + cystine actually rises.
Putting the lysine back
Divide the lysine you lost by the lysine content of the product you add. The EU authorisations for L-lysine HCl and L-lysine sulphate require the L-lysine content on the label, and set minimums of 78% for L-lysine HCl and 52% or 55% for L-lysine sulphate, depending on the authorisation.
| Product | Minimum L-lysine (EU authorisations) | To replace 835 g lysine per tonne |
|---|---|---|
| L-lysine HCl | 78% | 1.07 kg |
| L-lysine sulphate | 52–55% | 1.52–1.61 kg |
Use the lysine content on your product label or certificate of analysis rather than the legal minimum, and confirm in your formulation software.
If threonine was already at its minimum in your formula, the 215 g shortfall needs about 220 g of L-threonine 98.5% per tonne. On methionine, the swap gives back about 165 g of digestible methionine + cystine, so least-cost software may trim DL-methionine slightly.
The same method for corn DDGS
Corn DDGS carries far less protein than soybean meal (27.3% against 46.2%), so in practice it replaces a mix of maize and soybean meal, not soybean meal alone. The exact lysine gap therefore depends on what it displaces in your formula. The method is the same: take the change in each ingredient, multiply by its digestible lysine, add up the gap, then divide by your lysine product’s lysine content. Use the corn DDGS columns in the first table.
Four checks before you change the formula
Rice DDGS and lysine from one supplier. We supply rice DDGS 45%, corn DDGS, L-lysine sulphate and other feed-grade amino acids, delivered to your mill. Current delivered DDGS rates are on our DDGS price page.
WhatsApp for a quoteSend an enquirySources
- Feedtables (INRAE-CIRAD-AFZ), Rice distillers grains with solubles, protein 40-50%, dried: https://www.feedtables.com/content/rice-distillers-grains-solubles-protein-40-50-dried
- Feedtables, Maize distillers grains with solubles, ethanol production, dried: https://www.feedtables.com/content/maize-distillers-grains-solubles-ethanol-production-dried
- Feedtables, Maize distillers grains and solubles, oil < 6%, dried: https://www.feedtables.com/content/maize-distillers-grains-and-solubles-oil-6-dried
- Feedtables, Soybean meal, oil < 5%, 48% protein + oil: https://www.feedtables.com/content/soybean-meal-oil-5-48-protein-oil
- Aviagen, Ross Broiler Nutrition Specifications 2022, Table 1: https://aviagen.com/assets/Tech_Center/Ross_Broiler/Ross-BroilerNutritionSpecifications2022-EN.pdf
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1964 (L-lysine HCl 78%, L-lysine sulphate 52%): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1964
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/439 (L-lysine sulphate 55%): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32017R0439
- Feedipedia, Corn distillers grains (mycotoxins are concentrated in DDGS): https://www.feedipedia.org/node/71
- Dinani et al. (2022), ICAR-CARI, rice DDGS with enzymes in broiler diets: https://doi.org/10.18805/IJAR.B-4191
- Dinani et al., ICAR-CARI, rice DDGS in broiler diets: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326738762_Evaluation_of_feeding_value_of_rice_based_Distillers_Dried_Grains_with_Solubles_DDGS_for_broiler_chickens
Recent Comments