Soybean meal is used most extensively as a source of protein, especially in poultry diets. In general, soybean meal accounts for more than 70 percent of the protein source used in compound feeds for poultry and other livestock. Use of other legumes such as beans, pigeon peas, groundnut meal and cowpeas is limited due to a number of factors such as:
their importance as sources of cheap plant protein for human consumption;
lack of processing facilities;
high cost of transport from areas of production to the location of feed mills;
the unattractive price that farmers receive from the sale of these products to the animal feed industry;
