• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.392-400
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• 2007

This experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of various periods of rye silage feeding on the growth performance, blood characteristics, and carcass quality of finishing pigs. A total of sixteen [($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire{\times}Duroc$)] pigs (90.26 kg in average initial body weight) were tested in individual cages for a 30 day period. Dietary treatments included 1) CON (basal diet), 2) S10 (basal diet for 20 days and 3% rye silage for 10 days) 3) S20 (basal diet for 10 days and 3% rye silage for 20 days) and 4) S30 (3% rye silage for 30 days). There were no significant differences in the ADG and gain/feed ratio among the treatments(p>0.05), however the ADFI was higher in pigs fed the CON diet than with pigs fed diets with rye silage (p<0.05). The DM digestibility was higher with the S20 diet than with the S30 diet (p<0.05). With regard to blood characteristics, pigs fed rye silage had a significantly reduced cortisol concentration compared to pigs fed the CON diet (p<0.05). The backfat thickness was higher with the CON diet than with the S20 or S30 diets (p<0.05). Regarding the fatty acid contents of the leans, the C18:0 and total SFA were significantly higher with the CON diet than with the other diets (p<0.05). However, the C18:1n9, total MUFA and UFA/SFA levels were significantly lower with the CON diet than the other diets (p<0.05). Regarding the fatty acid contents of fat, the levels of C18:1n9 and MUFA were similar with the S20 and S30 diets, however, these levels were higher than with the CON or S10 diets (p<0.05). In conclusion, feed intake and DM digestibility were affected by rye silage, and the cortisol concentration, backfat thickness and fatty acid composition of pork were positively affected by feeding pigs rye silage.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.355-368
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• 2003

In Exp. 1, this study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary germanium biotite on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in nursery pigs. A total of sixty crossbred pigs (initial body weight 15.09$\pm$0.18kg) were used in this experiment. This study was carried out for 28 days. The five treatments were control (CON; basal diet), GB0.1 (basal diet + germanium biotite 0.1%), GB0.3 (basal diet + germanium biotite 0.3%), GB0.6 (basal diet + germanium biotite 0.6%) and GB1.0 (basal diet + germanium biotite 1.0%). For overall period, ADG and Gain/feed were not significantly different among the treatments. In Exp. 2, a study was conducted to evaluate the effect of germanium biotite as a substitute for antibiotics in growing pigs. A total of fifty five crossbred pigs (initial body weight 32.47$\pm$0.9kg) were used in this experiment. The three treatments were negative control (NC: basal diet without antibiotic), positive control (PC: basal diet + 200ppm CTC) and GB0.3 (basal diet + germanium biotite 0.3%). Pigs fed PC (17%, 385 vs 451 g/d) and GB0.3 (14%, 385 vs 438 g/d) diets grew faster(P<0.05) than pigs fed NC diet. Pigs fed PC and GB0.3 diets resulted higher(P<0.05) ADFI than pigs fed CON diet. However, pigs fed GB0.3 diet had improved gain/feed compared to pigs fed NC diet(P<0.05). Apparent digestibility of DM and N by pigs fed PC and GB0.3 diets were greater(P<0.05) than those by pigs fed NC diet. In Exp. 3, a study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary germanium biotite on growth performance, plasma characteristics, backfat thickness and fecal ammonia gas concentration in finishing pigs. A total of seventy-two finishing pigs (initial body weight 78.56$\pm$1.32kg) were used in this experiment. The treatments included 1) Control (CON; basal diet) 2) GB1.0 (basal diet + germanium biotite 1.0%), 3) GB3.0 (basal diet + germanium biotite 3.0%). Pigs fed GB1.0 diet grew faster than pigs fed CON diet and GB0.3 diet (P<0.05). Also, pigs fed CON diet showed higher(p<0.05) ADFI than pigs fed GB3.0 diet. Pigs fed GB diets had improved gain/feed compared to pigs fed CON diet(P<0.05). Total?and VLDL concentrations in plasma of pigs fed GB diets treatments were significantly decreased compared to those in pig fed CON diet(P<0.05). However, HDL-cholesterol concentration in plasma of the pig was significantly increased compared to those in pigs fed CON diet (P<0.05). Pigs fed CON diet exerted higher(P<0.05) backfat thickness than pigs fed GB1.0 (5.4%, 27.19 vs 25.71mm) and GB3.0 (16.1%, 27.19 vs 22.81mm) diets. Feces from CON treatment were higher in fecal ammonia gas concentration than faces from pigs fed GB1.0 (64.1%, 17.00 vs 6.10mg/kg)and GB3.0 (61.8%, 17.00 vs 6.50mg/kg) treatments(P<0.05). In conclusion, the results suggest that the dietary addition of germanium biotite into diets for nursery pigs did not affect growth performance. The results also suggest the possibility of germanium biotite to replace antibiotic in diets for growing pigs. In finishing pigs, dietary supplementation of germanium biotite was an effective means for improving growth performance and for decreasing Total-and LDL+VLDL-plasma cholesterols, backfat and fecal ammonia gas concentration.