Effects of replacing corn with chinese brown rice on growth performance and apparent fecal digestibility of nutrients in weanling pigs

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of replacing corn with Chinese brown rice on performance and apparent fecal digestibility of nutrients in weanling pigs. Seventy-two cross-bred (DurocxLandracexLarge White) weanling pigs, weighing an average of 7.38±0.06 kg, were randomly assigned to either a corn-soybean meal diet (treatment 1), a corn-brown rice-soybean meal diet (treatment 2) and a brown rice-soybean meal diet (treatment 3). The brown rice used in this experiment was husked from one kind of early, long grain, non-glutinous rice (ELGNR, indica rice). The growth performance of weanling pigs in the experiment was similar during weeks 1 and 2, but feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly better in treatment 2 during weeks 3 and 4. During week 2, only the digestibility of organic matter in treatments 2 and 3 was significantly higher than that in treatment 1. During week 4, the digestibility of gross energy, ether extract, organic matter and dry matter in brown rice treatment, especially in treatment 3, were significantly higher than in treatment 1. At the end of the experiment, the concentration of serum urea nitrogen of pigs in treatment 2 was lower than that in treatment 1 and 3 and no difference was found in serum glucose and phosphorus. It could be concluded from this experiment that replacing 50% of corn with brown rice in the corn-soybean meal diet caused no negative effects to weanling pig performance, and apparent fecal digestibility was unaffected. It is feasible to replace corn with brown rice in weanling pig diets in southern China.