• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2002

In this study, we investigated the lead exposure conditions using feathers of pigeons as a monitor for lead pollution from rural (Duckjeok Island), central urban (Seoul), and industrial complex areas (Yochon, Ansan, Ulsan, and Busan) in Korea. The feathers were taken from breast body parts and their lead analysis was performed without washing the feathers to reflect lead particles attached to the surface. The tissue lead concentrations were also compared with levels of atmospheric concentrations. The lead levels in the feathers were increased when the atmospheric lead levels were higher, so that the lead levels in the feathers of the pigeons from the industrial complex area with highest atmospheric lead levels were about four times greater than those of the rural areas. A positive correlation was found between the lead concentration of the pigeon's livers and feathers in rural, and the Yochon industrial complex area with the lowest lead levels. This result means that most of lead in feathers is transported from body tissues during the molting period without attached atmospheric lead. Thus, the feather lead concentrations could be discussed in the light of the metabolism known to occur between the liver and feathers. However, there were not significant correlations in the other areas with higher atmospheric lead levels, and observed relatively higher lead accumulation ratio in feathers than in livers compared with rural and the Yochon industrial complex areas. It is therefore suggested that the former was more exposure conditions and mainly influenced by outer pollutant sources than by the metabolism as the latter.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2024

The feather-sexing method is widely used commercially for chick sex identification. However, for feather-sexing to be industrially practical, the early-feathering (EF) and late-feathering (LF) genes must existed within the foundation stock, a suitable feather-sexing lines must be established, and the accuracy of sex identification by feather-sexing must be ensured. Therefore, this study introduces the method of constructing the Korean native chickens (KNC) feather-sexing lines using EF and LF genes and evaluates the effectiveness of feather sex determination on commercial chicks produced from the constructed KNC lines. The results showed that both EF and LF chickens existed within the foundation stock, with the frequency of LF genes ranging from 0 to 0.205. In feather-sexing line establishment, the paternal strain of the grandparent stock (GPS) was fixed as EF (kk) for both sexes, while the maternal strain was composed of males with LF homozygotes (Z^KZ^K) and females with EF (Z^kW). Thus, in the parent stock (PS), male breeder had EF (Z^kZ^k) and female breeder had LF (Z^KW), resulting in chicks produced from their crosses having LF (Z^KZ^k) for males and EF (Z^kW) for females, allowing sex determination based on feather development. Additionally, to evaluate the effectiveness of feather-sexing for the produced commercial chicks, a study was conducted on 1,000 samples of the produced chicks to investigate the concordance between vent-sexing and feather-sexing, showing a matching rate of 93.1%.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.579-584
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• 2006

A fossil feather found from the Late Pleistocene sediments of Jeju Island, Korea is described. The sediments deposited in a shallow marine environment yielded numerous footprints of diverse birds and mammals including hominids. A fossil feather well-preserved as a thin white film on the light gray mudstone is part of a vaned flight one. Although the specimen is relatively small in size (10.3 mm long and 9.0 mm wide), a rachis with two flat vanes and nearly parallel curved barbs with numerous proximal and distal barbules are well preserved. The specimen represents the first record of a fossil feather from Korea and is also the first record of feather from the Pleistocene deposits in the world.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2021

Although feather-sexing using sex-linked genes related to feather development is a widely used chick sexing method in the poultry industry, the feather-sexing method has yet to be used for Korean native chickens (KNCs). The purpose of this study was to construct a KNC feather-sexing line using early-feathering (EF) and late-feathering (LF) genes for industrial application. Using 557 reddish-brown KNCs as the basal flock, frequencies of the EF (k) and LF (K) genes were estimated to be 0.814 and 0.186, respectively. This indicating that it would be feasible to construct a feather-sexing line using this chicken group, and we accordingly constructed EF paternal and LF maternal lines. On the basis of test-cross for the selection of LF homozygous (KK) males in the maternal line, we confirmed that three of 40 chickens were homozygous males. The survival rate, body weight, days at first egg-laying, hen-day egg production, and egg weight were analyzed to compare the production performance of EF and LF chickens. The results revealed that EF chickens were characterized by a superior survival rate, whereas LF chickens were superior in terms of egg production rate. However, no differences between LF and EF chickens were detected with respect to other production performance parameters. In addition, assessment of the fitness of sexed chicks produced in the established KNC feather-sexing lines revealed that the accuracy of sexing was 98.6%. Collectively, these findings indicate the feasibility of constructing effective KNC feather-sexing lines with potential industrial application.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 2013

The vent sexing and the auto-sexing by using sex-linked traits are general sexing methods of day-old chicks. Currently, the feather sexing which is based on the differences in the feather characteristics at hatching is the representative sexing method of chicken, because the late-feathering is sex-linked trait. The feather sexing can be used if the breed has dominant feathering gene (K) in maternal and recessive gene ($k^+$) in paternal. Therefore it is necessary to identify the association of feathering genes and quantitative traits in chickens. In this study, we investigated the influence of the rate of feathering on productive traits in Korean Native Chicken. In results, there was no significant difference between early-feathering chickens and late-feathering chickens in reproductive performance such as fertility and hatchability. Livability, body weights, egg production, egg weight and egg quality also did not significantly differ between early- and late-feathering chickens. Age at first egg was the only trait of those tested in which significant difference was observed. The early-feathering chickens laid eggs 3 days earlier than late-feathering chicken. As a result, there is no influence of feathering phenotypes on productive performance in Korean Native Chickens. Consequentially, establishing the feather sexing strain is available using the Korean Native Chicken breed without considering of the effect of feathering genes on productive traits.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.177-184
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• 2021

Sex identification in day-old chicks is essential in the poultry industry. Currently, the feather-sexing using a sex-linked inheritance is a chick sexing method used extensively in the poultry industry. For chicks produced by feather-sexing, all females are early-feathering (EF) chicks and all males are late-feathering (LF) chicks. Therefore, investigating the effects of EF and LF phenotypes on production traits of chickens is critical. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the production performance between EF and LF chickens in Korean native commercial chickens. The results showed that the survival rate of the EF chickens was significantly higher than that of the LF chickens, from hatching to 12 weeks of age (P<0.05), with the highest difference observed in females. However, no significant difference was observed in body weight between the EF and LF chickens at almost all ages. In addition, no significant difference was observed between in feed utility, such as average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio, between the EF and LF groups. In conclusion, although the survival rate of early-feathering chickens was superior to that of late-feathering chickens, no significant difference was observed in growth performance and feed utility among Korean native chickens. The results suggest that production capacity is not influenced by feathering type in the establishment of a breeder structure and production system for feather-sexing Korean native chickens, which is valuable for the practical application of feather-sexing in the poultry industry.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.91-96
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• 2003

To monitor the heavy metal exposure conditions of Feral Pigeons Columba livia, we collected them at commercial area, industrial area, park area and resident area in Seoul. In feathers, iron concentrations were significantly different among habitats(ANOVA, p<0.05), and were the highest at park area. Manganese concentrations were relatively higher at industrial and park area than other areas(ANOVA, p<0.05). In case of copper levels were the significantly highest at park area(ANOVA, p<0.05). Zinc, lead and cadmium had no difference among habitats. Correlation between livers and feathers concentrations were highly significant to copper(r²=0.983, p<0.01) and cadmium(r²=0.632, p<0.01), but iron, zinc, manganese and lead were not significantly different.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2003

In diurnal activity of the black-crowned night herons on breeding season, activity budget was that male were standing(29.5%), preening(21.5%), comfort(10.9%), and female were resting(26.3%), repairing (18.4%), preening(15.3%) in sequence. Activity budget was high significant between male and female(p<0.01). In case of activity-time budget sequence, male was standing(38.7%), locomotion(33.8%), preening(11.5%), and female was resting(55.4%), standing(18.4%), preening(9.4%). Therefore, activity-time budget was significantly different in male and female(p<0.01).

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.492-504
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• 2014

Feral pigeon (Columba livia) has been known as a good indicator for accumulations of chemical pollutants in urban areas. However, it is against the animal rights to kill the indicator species in order to monitor pollutants accumulations in wild birds. Eggs and feathers of birds, therefore, have been used as non-invasive monitoring materials. Even though eggs are a good indicator for accumulations of lipophilic pollutants, but unsuitable for some heavy metals such as lead and cadmium because bird's ovary builds a sort of barrier to inhibit higher accumulations of some heavy metals in the eggs. Therefore, feathers instead of eggs have been used as a non-invasive indicator for accumulations of heavy metals. However, there are few studies of heavy metal accumulations of feral pigeon in Korea. In this study, we characterized the characteristics of heavy metal accumulations of feathers in relation to internal organs (bloods, viscera and bones) in feral pigeons between two sites (Hangang Park representing urban area and Hampyeong Park for rural area). The samples from the Hangang Park showed significantly higher lead (Pb) concentrations in the blood, liver and bone than those from Hampyeong Park. The Pb concentration in the feathers was also significantly higher at Hangang Park than at Hampyeong Park. The analytical result for the breast, wing and tail feathers, and the internal organs (blood, lung, liver, kidney and bone) indicated that the Pb concentrations in the feathers were significantly positively correlated with the levels in the kidney and bone. Overall, feathers of feral pigeon may be candidate for bioindicator to monitor for Pb accumulations in urban areas.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.83-93
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of stocking density on feather condition, egg quality, blood parameters, and corticosterone levels of laying hens reared in conventional cages. A total of 500, 28 weeks-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were evenly assigned to two stocking densities (750 and 500 ㎠/bird). There were 50 replicates of each treatment, each consisting of 750 ㎠/birds (n=6) or 500 ㎠/bird (n=4) birds in a cage, respectively. We observed an increase in the laying period of, the group that was assigned 500 ㎠/bird, however, this group experienced significant feather damage when compared with the group allotted 750 ㎠ bird. There was no effect of stocking densities on egg quality. These results suggest that the 500 ㎠/bird stocking density in the conventional cage can negatively affect feather condition and cause the birds to experience more stress than the group allotted 750 ㎠/bird.