Interpretive Summary: Potential use of ground brown rice for weanling pigs

By Anne Zinn

A paper recently published in the Journal of Animal Science assessed the effects of substituting corn with ground brown rice on growth performance, immune status, and gut microbiota in weanling pigs. Replacing corn with rice in diets for weaning or growing pigs has been studied in the past and has demonstrated improved growth performance and nutrient digestibility, but there is limited information about corn replacement with brown rice on growth performance, immune status, and gut microbiota of weanling pigs. The current study hypothesized that when ground brown rice completely replaces corn in diets for weanling pigs, there would be alterations in the gut microbiota without negative effects on growth performance and immune responses.

Overall, there was no significant difference in growth performance when corn was replaced with ground brown rice for weaning pigs. Additionally, the substitution of corn with ground brown rice in the diet influenced immune status and gut microbiota of the pigs by increasing beneficial microbial communities and reducing harmful microbial communities. These results indicate that ground brown rice is a potential alternative to traditional feed ingredients without negative effects. This is the first study to demonstrate that a complete replacement of corn with ground brown rice in nursery diets correlates with growth performance, immune status, and gut microbiota of weanling pigs during the weaning period. More research is required to better understand the benefits and biological effects of ground brown rice as an alternative feed ingredient.

The full paper can be found on the Journal of Animal Science webpage.