We investigated the effects of rice feeding on growth performance and protein (amino acids) metabolism of weanling piglets. In all, 16 weanling piglets with an average initial weight of 7.5 kg were divided into two groups. One group was fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet, and the other was fed a rice-soybean meal diet, containing around 46% of corn or rice, respectively. A two-week growth trial was conducted. The average daily gain (p = .025) and feed efficiency (p = .011) in rice-fed piglets were significantly higher than those in corn-fed piglets. Liver lysine-ketoglutarate reductase activity tended to be lower (p = .073) in rice-fed piglets than in corn-fed piglets. Plasma urea nitrogen concentration in rice-fed piglets was significantly lower than that in corn-fed piglets. Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were significantly higher in rice-fed piglets than in corn-fed piglets. Plasma-free valine, isoleucine, and tryptophan concentrations were significantly higher in rice-fed piglets than in corn-fed piglets. In contrast, plasma histidine concentration was significantly lower in rice-fed piglets than in corn-fed piglets. Overall, these results show that rice feeding improves the growth performance and affects the protein (amino acids) metabolism in weanling piglets.

中文翻译：

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水稻喂养对断奶仔猪生长性能和蛋白质（氨基酸）代谢的影响。

我们研究了稻米饲喂对断奶仔猪生长性能和蛋白质（氨基酸）代谢的影响。总共有 16 头平均初始体重为 7.5 公斤的断奶仔猪被分成两组。一组喂食以玉米豆粕为主的饮食，另一组喂食大米豆粕，分别含有约 46% 的玉米或大米。进行了为期两周的生长试验。稻米喂养仔猪的平均日增重 (p = .025) 和饲料效率 (p = .011) 显着高于玉米喂养仔猪。稻米喂养仔猪的肝脏赖氨酸-酮戊二酸还原酶活性往往低于玉米喂养仔猪 (p = .073)。水稻喂养的仔猪血浆尿素氮浓度明显低于玉米喂养的仔猪。稻米喂养仔猪的血浆葡萄糖和胰岛素浓度明显高于玉米喂养仔猪。稻米喂养仔猪的血浆游离缬氨酸、异亮氨酸和色氨酸浓度明显高于玉米喂养仔猪。相比之下，稻米喂养的仔猪血浆组氨酸浓度明显低于玉米喂养的仔猪。总体而言，这些结果表明，稻米饲喂提高了断奶仔猪的生长性能并影响了蛋白质（氨基酸）代谢。