• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1062-1062
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• 2001

The concept of “precision agriculture” or “site-specific farming” is usually confined to the fields of soil science, crop science and agronomy. However, because plants grow in soil, animals eat plants, and humans eat animal products, it could be argued (perhaps with some poetic licence) that the fields of feed quality, animal nutrition and animal production should also be considered in this context. NIR spectroscopy has proved over the last 20 years that it can provide a firm foundation for quality measurement across all of these fields, and with the continuing developments in instrumentation, computer capacity and software, is now a major cog in the wheel of precision agriculture. There have been a few giant leaps and a lot of small steps in the impact of NIR on the animal world. These have not been confined to the amazing advances in hardware and software, although would not have occurred without them. Rapid testing of forages, grains and mixed feeds by NIR for nutritional value to livestock is now commonplace in commercial laboratories world-wide. This would never have been possible without the pioneering work done by the USDA NIR Forage Research Network in the 1980's, following the landmark paper of Norris et al. in 1976. The advent of calibration transfer between instruments, algorithms which utilize huge databases for calibration and prediction, and the ability to directly scan whole grains and fresh forages can also be considered as major steps, if not leaps. More adventurous NIR applications have emerged in animal nutrition, with emphasis on estimating the functional properties of feeds, such as in vivo digestibility, voluntary intake, protein degradability and in vitro assays to simulate starch digestion. The potential to monitor the diets of grazing animals by using faecal NIR spectra is also now being realized. NIR measurements on animal carcasses and even live animals have also been attempted, with varying degrees of success, The use of discriminant analysis in these fields is proving a useful tool. The latest giant leap is likely to be the advent of relatively low-cost, portable and ultra-fast diode array NIR instruments, which can be used “on-site” and also be fitted to forage or grain harvesters. The fodder and livestock industries are no longer satisfied with what we once thought was revolutionary: a 2-3 day laboratory turnaround for fred quality testing. This means that the instrument needs to be taken to the samples rather than vice versa. Considerable research is underway in this area, but the challenge of calibration transfer and maintenance of instrument networks of this type remains. The animal world is currently facing its biggest challenges ever; animal welfare, alleged effects of animal products on human health, environmental and economic issues are difficult enough, but the current calamities of BSE and foot and mouth disease are “the last straw” NIR will not of course solve all these problems, but is already proving useful in some of these areas and will continue to do so.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.341-352
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• 2011

Colibacillosis in pigs remain a major swine industry bruden worldwide. Although some progress has been made in treating collibacillosis in pigs by using biosecurity and antimicrobials, it still remain a considerable problem. The use of host-specific bateriophages as a biocontrol is one possible alternative. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of bacteriophage against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 infection in piglets. Twenty-eight piglets were randomly divided into four groups and each group was allocated with 7 pigs. Group B, C and D were inoculated with 5 ml of ETEC K88 ($1{\times}10^8$ CFU/ml) per head of piglet via oral. Group C and D were fed with bacteriophages (Group C, $1.0{\times}10^6$ PFU/g; Group D, $1.0{\times}10^8$ PFU/g; CJ CheilJedang Corp., Korea) orally as treatment. In piglets administrated bacteriophages and challenged with ETEC K88 (Group C and D), Clinical signs and the growth performance were improved and antibody titers were maintained low level compared with piglets challenged with ETEC K88 (Group B, P<0.05). Group B were shown high pH in the alimentary tracts compared with other piglets (P<0.05). In quantitative analysis by real-time PCR, the results of Group C and D were lower than those Group B in faecal and intestinal samples (P<0.05). Severe villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia were observed in Group B consequently V/C ratio increased, compared with other piglets. These results indicate that feeding with bacteriophage has effect to prevent ETEC K88 infection in piglets and suggest that use of bacteriophage can be considered a valid antibiotic alternative.