Table 7.

Plasma amino acid composition of wethers fed on four different diets

	Experimental diets
	Control	SW1	SW2	SBM	SEM2	P value3
n	4	2	4	4
Essential AA1 (µmol/l)
Histidine	54	52	46	52	3.6/5.5
Isoleucine	88	80	76	82	7.2/11.1
Leucine	100	104	92	89	7.5/9.6
Lysine	126	114	106	107	16.8/23.6
Methionine	19	19	16	17	1.4/1.6	(*)
Phenylalanine	40	42	44	38	2.1/2.8
Threonine	117	152	93	111	13.1/20.0
Tryptophan	31	34	32	31	1.5/2.3
Valine	199	187	181	186	15.4/23.5
Non-essential AA (µmol/l)
Arginine	139	140	145	150	23.4/31.7
Alanine	264	271	194	210	13.3/33.6
Aspartic acid	7.5	9.1	6.4	7.6	0.96/1.15
Glutamic acid	78	89	61	67	5.3/9.9	(*)
Glutamine	335	353	288	346	31.6/48.3
Glycine	438	347	310	407	40.4/61.7
Proline	81	82	65	73	7.6/10.8
Serine	79	72	56	74	7.0/10.7
Citrulline	129	118	116	128	18.1/24.8
Ornithine	73	80	62	69	8.5/11.9
Taurine	53	56	61	43	3.2/4.8	(*)
Tyrosine	56	58	48	53	4.3/6.6
Hydroxyproline	20	20	17	19	2.1/3.0
3-Methylhistidine	6.8	7.8	6.3	6.5	0.51/0.60
1-Methylhistidine	78a	64b	65b	65b	21.3/21.5	*
Aspartic acid	7.5	9.1	6.4	7.6	0.96/1.15
Sarcosine	7.0	7.4	6.3	6.5	0.56/0.78
β-Alanine	2.8	2.8	2.6	2.6	0.11/0.16
α-aminoadipic acid	5.2	3.9	4.0	4.1	0.66/0.75	(*)
α-amino-N-butric acid	12.2	15.0	9	11	1.4/1.9	(*)
Cystathionine	3.9	5.4	4.3	4.1	0.67/0.89
Cystine	8.0	10.0	8.5	8.0	1.3/1.9
Essential amino acids	894	887	815	848	79.2/118.2
Essential amino acids/total amino acids (ratio)	0.332	0.341	0.362	0.338	0.0061/0.0092	(*)

SW1=diet containing processed S. latissima; SW2=diet containing Porphyra spp.; SBM=diet containing soybean meal.

¹Amino acid(s).

²Standard error of the mean for Control, SW2 and SBM, and SW1, respectively.

³(*) P<0.10 and *P<0.05.

^a,b Values within a row with different superscripts differ significantly at P<0.05.