• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1309-1313
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• 2016

Metabolic signals and the state of energy reserves have been shown to play a crucial role in the regulation of reproductive function. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of dietary glucose levels on puberty onset in gilts. Weight-matched, landrace gilts (n = 36) $162{\pm}3days$ old, weighing about $71.05{\pm}4.53kg$, were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatment groups of 12 gilts each. The trial lasted until the onset of puberty. Gilts in each group were supplied with diets containing different levels of glucose as follows: i) starch group (SG) was free of glucose, contained 64% corn derived starch; ii) low-dose group (LDG) contained 19.2% glucose and 44.8% corn derived starch; iii) high-dose group (HDG) contained 30% glucose and 30% corn derived starch. Results indicated: i) The growth performance of gilts were not affected by the addition of glucose, but the age of puberty onset was advanced significantly (p<0.05); ii) Compared with the SG, the concentration of insulin significantly increased before puberty in HDG (p<0.05); iii) There was no difference in serum progesterone (P) levels amongst the different feed groups, however, levels of estradiol ($E_2$), luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone were significantly higher at puberty onset in HDG (p<0.05). Overall, our findings indicate that glucose supplementation significantly advances puberty onset, which can have practical purposes for commercial breeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1463-1469
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• 2020

Objective: The effects of maternal and offspring dietary vitamin A (VA) supplementation on early body weight, digestive tract function and immune function in goslings were studied. Methods: Yangzhou geese (180 d old) were randomly divided into 5 experimental groups of 15 females and 3 males (the males were kept until slaughter). Eggs were collected for hatching during the peak laying period. A total of 96 goslings were selected from each treatment group (each fed a basic diet supplemented with 0, 4,000, 8,000, 12,000 or 16,000 IU/kg VA) and randomly divided into 2 groups, with 6 replicates in each group and 8 goslings in each replicate. The gosling diet was supplemented with 0 or 9,000 IU/kg VA. Results: i) Villus length, villus width and the muscle thickness of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum were increased and the crypt depth was reduced after adding 12,000 IU/kg VA to the goslings' diet (p<0.05). Adding 9,000 IU/kg VA to the offspring diet increased the length of the duodenal villi and width of the ileum and decreased the crypt depth of the ileum (p<0.05). ii) Supplementing the maternal diet with 12,000 IU/kg VA increased immune organ weight, the immune organ index and immunoglobulin content in goslings (p<0.05). The bursa weight and immunoglobulin G content of offspring were higher in the 9,000 IU/kg VA supplementation group than in the group with no supplementation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Offspring growth and development were affected by the amount of VA added into maternal diet. The negative effect of maternal VA deficiency on offspring can be compensated by adding VA to the offspring diet. Continued VA supplementation in the offspring diet after excessive VA supplementation in the maternal diet is unfavorable for gosling growth and development.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 1997

The present study analysed the various productive and reproductive characteristics of 1/2 Pabna Milking Cows (PMC)-1/2 Sahiwal (S) and 1/4 PMC-3/4 S collected from the Pabna milkshed area at Baghabarighat, Sirajgonj, Bangladesh. The studied traits were birth weight (BWT), age at puberty (AP), number of services per conception (NSC), post partum heat period (PPHP), gestation period (GP), daily milk yield (DMY), lactational production (LP), lactation length (LL), fat percentage and solids-not-fat percentage (SNFP). Five individual Sahiwal sires were used for the upgrading of Pabna Milking Cows. The used data covered from 1987 to 1994. Least-squares analysis of variance showed that genetic group had a significant effect on BWT (P < 0.05), AP (p < 0.01), DMY (p < 0.01), LP (p < 0.001), LL (p < 0.05), FP (p < 0.05) and SNFP (p < 0.01). Genetic group had non-significant effect on NSC, GP and PPHP. The effect of sire was significant on BWT (p < 0.01), NSC (p < 0.01), LP (p < 0.05) and LL (p < 0.05). The AP, NSC, DMY, LP, LL and SNFP were higher in 1/2 PMC-1/2S cows; BWT and PPHP were higher in 1/4 PMC-3/4S but GP and FP were almost same in both genetic groups. From this study it may be concluded that production and use of 1/2 PMC-1/2S would seem more profitable for commercial milk production in the Bangladesh Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Limited (BMPCUL) area and at the same time emphasis should be given on rigorous sire selection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1075-1079
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• 2005

The main objective of this study is to examine genetic changes in growth rate and carcass composition traits in group housed, ad libitum fed pigs, from lines of Large White divergently selected over four years for high and low post-weaning daily gain on a fixed but restricted ration. Genetic parameters for production and carcass traits were also estimated by using average information-restricted maximum likelihood applied to a multivariate individual animal model. All analyses were carried out on 1,728 records of group housed ad libitum fed pigs, and include a full pedigree of 5,324 animals. Estimates of heritability (standard errors in parentheses) were 0.11 (0.04) for lifetime daily liveweight gain (LDG), 0.13 (0.04) for daily carcass weight gain (CDG) and 0.28 (0.06) for carcass backfat (CFT). Genetic correlations between LDG and CDG were highly positive and between LDG and CFT negative, suggesting that selection for lifetime daily gain under commercial conditions of group housing with ad libitum feeding would result in favourable improvement in carcass traits. CFT showed negative genetic correlations with CDG. Correlated genetic responses evaluated as estimated breeding values (EBVs) were obtained from a multivariate animal model-best linear unbiased prediction analysis. After four years of divergent selection for 6 week post-weaning growth rate on restricted feeding, pigs performance tested on ad libitum feeding in groups exhibited changes in EBVs of 6.77 and -9.93 (g/d) for LDG, 4.25 and -7.08 (g/d) for CDG, and -1.42 and 1.55 (mm) for CFT, in the high and low lines, respectively. It is concluded that selection for growth rate on restricted feeding would significantly improve genetic performance and carcass composition of their descendants when group housed and ad libitum fed as is a common commercial practice.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.14-21
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• 2015

Korean government plans to establish large-scale horticulture facility complexes using reclaimed land in order to improve the national competitiveness of agriculture at the government level. One of the most significant problems arising from the establishment of those large-scale horticulture facilities is that these facilities still largely depend on a fossil fuel and they require 24 h a day heating during the winter season in order to provide the necessary breeding conditions for greenhouse crops. These facilities show large energy consumption due to the use of coverings with large heat transmission coefficients such as vinyl and glass during heating in the winter season. This study investigated the applicability of waste heat from power plant for large-scale horticulture facilities by evaluating the waste heat water temperature, heat loss and energy saving performance as a function of distance between power plant and greenhouse. As a result, utilizing power plant waste heat can reduce the energy consumption by around 85% compared to the conventional gas boiler, regardless of the distance between power plant and greenhouse.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.92-96
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• 2003

The on-site sewage sludge vermicomposting equipment was designed and evaluated on the batch and continuous tests. The vermicomposting equipment was designed to consider the mechanization as well as automation. In terms of performance evaluation of equipment with continuous experiments, the highest treatment rate was found in the condition of 5mm in particle size and 10mm in e feeding height. Also, 20~25kg of earthworm per 50kg of sewage sludge was the most appropriate density of earthworm. In addition, the most effective separation of cast was found when the earthworm breeding box height was 80cm. The performance evaluation on equipment allowed the establishment of earthworm composting capacity of 2ton per a day with a size of $5{\times}3{\times}1m$ and the automatic control devices.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.659-665
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• 2011

This work was conducted to evaluate the hatching and growing performance of Korean Native Ducks (KND) Pure Breeding Line (PL). A total of 400 male and female pullets were produced from PL to keep in National Institute of Animal Science, Korea. Pullets were divided into 4 treatments, 5 repetitions per treatment, and 20 heads per repetition. Four treatments were compared in a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement with 2 groups (White strains, WW; Jade Green strains, CC) for their parents and 2 groups (male and female). Livability was not significantly different at 20 weeks among male and female of 2 strains. There was no significant difference on body weight and feed intake between WW and CC strains (P>0.05), but there was significantly different on body weight and feed intake between male and female (P<0.05). The feed conversion ratio of female was higher compared to male (P<0.05), but there was no significantly different between CC and WW strains. These results provide the basic data to develope the new strains of Korean Native Ducks.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2015

Intensive genetic selection has resulted in modern dairy cow with very high milk yields but reduced fertility, due mainly to an increase in reproductive disorders. The study was conducted to estimate the proportion of reproductive disorders among dairy cattle. The factors analyzed were; milk yield, cow parity, periparturient disorders, and reproductive status. The result of this study showed the incidence of reproductive disorders in high yielding dairy cows was prevalent. Repeat breeding was the major postpartum reproductive problem comprising (42.3%) of the samples. Higher reproductive disorders were also associated with lower parity. These disorders subsequently reduced reproductive performance by prolonged intervals from calving to first artificial insemination and from calving to pregnancy. Abnormalities in the reproductive system such as repeat breeder, silent heat, anestrous and ovarian cysts, as well as lower fertility have been recorded during the summer months (June to August). In conclusion, the study revealed that incidence of repeat breeder is mostly prevalent in dairy cows. Moreover, the incidence of reproductive disorders was higher in summer season and hence appropriate preventive and or therapeutic measures as per the type of abnormalities need to be undertaken.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.28-36
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• 1980

This study was carried out to estimate combining abilitie or economic traits in layer chickens. The data used in this study were the record of 10 single crosses produced by half diallel cross of 5 lines of Single Comb White Leghorns, such as A, B, C, K and S lines. Total 720 progenies of the crosses were reared at the Poultry Breeding Farm, College of Agriculture, Seoul National University from Feb. 1979 to August, 1980. Combining abilities were estimated by Grilling's mathematical model for the traits; age the first egg, total egg number, egg weight and body weight. The results attained from the studies were summarized as follows; In estimate of combining ability, an age at first egg of BS cross was largely due to significiantly higher general combining ability (G. C. A.) effect of B and S strains than Cand K strains in G. C. A. effect, and to specific combining ability (S. C. A) effect of B and S-trains. AB and BS crosses showed the highest egg Production. AB cross performance was result from high G.C.A. effect of A ana B strains. BS cross performance was result from high G. C. A. effect of B and high S. C. A. effect of BS cross. Specific combining ability effect in egg. weight was not statiscally significiant, but S strain showed high G. C. A. effect. A and B strains in body weight showed significantly low C. C. A. effect. From the above results, BS cross in an age at first egg, AB and BS crosses in egg Production, S strain in egg weight and AB cross in body weight were superior to other strains or crosses.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1129-1140
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• 2022

Objective: With improvements in living standards and increase in global population, the demand for meat products has been increasing; improved meat production from livestock could effectively meet this demand. In this study, we examined the differences in the muscle traits of different male crossbred sheep and attempted to identify key genes that regulate these traits. Methods: Dubo sheep×small-tailed Han sheep (DP×STH) and Suffolk×small-tailed Han sheep (SFK×STH) were selected to determine meat quality and production performance by Masson staining. Transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to meat quality. The presence of DEGs was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The production performance of SFK×STH sheep was better than that of DP×STH sheep, but the meat quality of DP×STH sheep was better than that of SFK×STH sheep. The muscle fiber diameter of DP×STH sheep was smaller than that of SFK×STH sheep. Twenty-two DEGs were identified. Among them, four gene ontology terms were related to muscle traits, and three DEGs were related to muscle or muscle fibers. There were no significant differences in the number of single nucleotide mutations and mutation sites in the different male parent cross combinations. Conclusion: This study provides genetic resources for future sheep muscle development and cross-breeding research.