Bridging Science and Industry: How U.S. Soybean Quality Shapes Feed Performance and Sustainable Aquaculture — Insights from Dr. Dominique Bureau
As the aquaculture feed industry matures, feed manufacturers are increasingly focused on production efficiency, profitability, and sustainability for their clients. Within this context, soybean meal has become one of the industry’s most important and widely used protein ingredients.
However, as research and feed technology continue to advance, one message is becoming increasingly clear: not all soybeans perform equally.
During Soy Connext 2026 in Chicago, hosted by the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), Dr. Dominique P. Bureau—a globally recognized aquaculture nutrition scientist whose career bridges academic research and industry innovation—shared insights into how soybean origin, physical quality, and processing characteristics can influence feed performance and the long-term sustainability of aquaculture production.
His presentation highlighted that evaluating soy extends far beyond crude protein content. Understanding the true value of an ingredient requires looking at its physical characteristics, nutritional quality, digestibility, consistency, and ultimately its biological performance.
Soy’s Expanding Role in Modern Aquafeeds
Over the past three decades, aquaculture nutrition has undergone a remarkable transformation. Feed formulations that once relied heavily on marine ingredients such as fishmeal now incorporate substantially higher levels of plant proteins, particularly soybean meal, while supporting strong production performance.
Reflecting on this evolution, Dr. Bureau explained that when he began his career, tilapia diets typically contained around 20–25% soybean meal. As feed formulation practices improved and understanding of tilapia nutritional requirements advanced, recommended inclusion rates increased to 25–35%. Today, soybean meal can account for 35–50% of high-performing tilapia diets, demonstrating the ingredient’s growing importance in aquaculture feeds.
For salmon feeds, more refined soy ingredients such as soy protein concentrate (SPC) have become particularly important. SPC fits well within highly digestible, nutrient-dense feeds that are typically high in protein and fat. Such formulations have limited room for non-digestible or poorly digestible components, including oligosaccharides and other forms of soluble fibre.
Why Soybean Origin Matters
Although soybean meal has become a cornerstone of modern aquafeeds, Dr. Bureau emphasized that ingredient quality cannot be assessed solely through routine laboratory analyses.
To better understand how soybean origin influences feed performance, his research team compared soybeans sourced from the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. Individual beans were carefully evaluated for physical characteristics including size, colour, split percentage, heat damage, sprouting, mould development, and overall appearance before undergoing nutritional assessment.
The study revealed consistent differences among soybean origins.
U.S. soybeans generally exhibited larger bean size, brighter appearance, greater uniformity, and minimal physical damage. U.S. soy is also associated with a comparatively low carbon footprint and verified sustainability attributes. Argentine soybeans demonstrated intermediate characteristics across most quality parameters. Brazilian samples showed greater variability, smaller average bean size, darker coloration, and a higher incidence of heat damage and other physical defects associated with harvesting, storage, or transportation.
According to Dr. Bureau, these visible characteristics are far more than cosmetic differences. They often reflect underlying nutritional changes that reduce amino acid availability, protein quality, and ultimately the feeding value of the ingredient.
For feed manufacturers purchasing thousands of tonnes of soybean meal each year, relatively small differences in ingredient quality can translate into substantial biological and economic impacts across commercial production systems.
Performance Is Ultimately Measured by the Fish
While laboratory analyses provide valuable information about ingredient composition, Dr. Bureau stressed that they cannot fully predict biological performance.
Digestibility measurements estimate how much of a nutrient disappears during digestion, but they do not always reveal how efficiently those nutrients are converted into fish growth. Ultimately, the most reliable evaluation comes from observing the animal itself.
As Dr. Bureau remarked, researchers must eventually “ask the animal.”
Under nutritionally generous feed formulations containing excess protein and amino acids, differences among soybean origins may be less noticeable because safety margins compensate for ingredient variability.
Commercial aquaculture, however, rarely operates under such ideal conditions.
Periods of elevated commodity prices—particularly during market disruptions or events such as El Niño, when fishmeal prices can rise substantially—often require feed formulators to reduce nutritional safety margins and optimize diets more aggressively.
“When formulators work on the edge,” Dr. Bureau explained, “ingredient quality suddenly becomes extremely important.”
Under these circumstances, relatively small differences in digestibility or amino acid availability can influence feed conversion ratios, growth performance, production costs, and ultimately farm profitability.
Bridging Research and Industry
One of the defining themes of Dr. Bureau’s presentation was the importance of connecting scientific research with commercial application.
Having spent decades working across both academia and industry, he described this combination as essential for solving the increasingly complex challenges facing modern aquaculture.
Academic research generates new scientific knowledge, develops innovative technologies, and educates future professionals. Industry, in turn, transforms these discoveries into practical solutions that improve production efficiency, strengthen supply chains, and deliver measurable value throughout the aquaculture sector.
Events that bring together researchers, soybean producers, feed manufacturers, exporters, logistics specialists, and aquaculture producers play an important role in accelerating this exchange of knowledge. By sharing research findings alongside real-world industry experience, these collaborations help ensure that scientific advances translate into meaningful improvements on farms around the world.
As aquaculture continues to expand in response to growing global demand for seafood, feed quality will remain an important driver of sustainability, productivity, and profitability.
Dr. Bureau’s research demonstrates that evaluating soybean ingredients extends far beyond crude protein percentages or feed formulation software. Bean origin, physical quality, processing methods, digestibility, and consistency can all influence feed performance and production economics.
As aquaculture continues to evolve, sustainable progress will depend on making better decisions at every stage of the value chain—from crop production and ingredient processing to feed formulation and farm management. Dr. Bureau’s work demonstrates that understanding soybean quality is not simply about selecting a better ingredient; it is about improving feed performance, strengthening producer profitability, and supporting more efficient aquaculture production.
When science and industry work together, advances in feed nutrition can translate into better-performing feeds, more efficient farms, and a stronger aquaculture sector.
Bridging Science and Industry: How U.S. Soybean Quality Shapes Feed Performance and Sustainable Aquaculture — Insights from Dr. Dominique Bureau
