• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.261-265
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• 1999

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of feeding Angelica gigas Nakai by-products on performance and meat quality of Korean native chicks(KNC). Five hundred forty KNC were placed into 0, 0.2, and 0.4% Angelica gigas supplements with four replications between males and females. Weight gain, feed conversion ratio(FCR), breast meat lipid, fatty acid and protein contents were measured from 17 to 20 weeks old. Egg production, feed intake and FCR were examined from 22 to 29 weeks at four weeks at four weeks intervals. Basal diets based on corn and soybean meal contained 15% crude protein and 2,850㎉/kg ME for the growing period, 16.5% and 2,800㎉/kg for the laying period. Experiments were designed in a one way analysis. Weight gain of female chicks fed 0.2% Angelica gigas by-products increased significantly compared to that of other treatments for the growing period, but was not consistency in male groups. Moisture, protein, fat content were not statistically different among all treatments. Fatty acid composition(C16:0, C18:0) of chicks fed 0.2% Angelica gigas by-products was higher than other treatments. In laying period, hens fed 0.2 or 0.4% Angelica gigas Nakai by-products seemed to increase the egg production and significantly improved FCR compared to that of control(P〈0.05). Birds fed 0.4% treatment showed significantly the lowest feed intake and FCR of all treatments(P〈0.05). The results of these studies indicated that dietary supplemental Angelica gigas by-products may have a role to improve the performance of KNC.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

We investigated the effects of breed, laying age, and egg storage period on the vitality of chicks using the Hwanggalsaek Jaeraejong, Korean Rhode Island Red, and Korean White Leghorn chicken breeds. Their eggs were collected during the early laying period (27~29 weeks) and late laying period (50~52 weeks) and were stored for 3 days, 7 days and 14 days. After the eggs hatched, the hatching time, production performance, and organ weight of chicks were investigated. IL-6 gene expression level and relative length of telomeres were analyzed to determine the physiological activity of the chicks. HSP gene expression level and heterophil to lymphocytes ratio were also analyzed to examine the degree of stress response in the chicks. The results showed that breed and laying age influenced the vitality of chicks, but the egg storage period did not. Korean Leghorn chicks were considered the weakest breed in terms of vitality owing to their low survival rate, small heart size, low physiological activity, and high stress response level. Although the survival rate of chicks produced in the early laying period was low, their high physiological activity and low stress response indicated that they had a high vitality than the chicks produced in the late laying period. In conclusion, to obtain chicks with high vitality, it would be desirable to select a high vitality breed and avoid the use of chicks produced in the late laying period.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2018

Chicken feathers could be classified into early-feathering (EF) and late-feathering (LF) depending on the development and patterns of the wing and tail feathers. Currently, feather-sexing is a widely used chick sexing method in the industry. This study was carried out to suggest the method of classifying of EF and LF chicks to establish auto-sexing Korean native chicken (KNC) strains. The development and morphology of wing feathers and tail feathers in 856 KNCs from hatching to 55-days old were analyzed to classify EF and LF chicks. We also performed PCR analysis using K-specific gene primers to confirm the agreement between the phenotypes and genotypes of EF and LF chickens. In the results, the EF chicks had long primaries and coverts, and there was a significant difference in length between primaries and coverts. The LF chicks had shorter primaries and coverts than the EF chicks, and showed little difference in the length between primaries and coverts. LF chicks could be classified into four groups: LF-Less, LF-Scant, LF-Equal and LF-Reverse according to their wing feather patterns. EF chicks had 1.5 times longer primaries than LF chicks until they were 15-days old, but the lengths were almost the same at 50-days old. The tail feathers of the EF chicks were apparent at 5-days old, but those of the LF chicks were short and indefinite at that time. When EF and LF chicks were classified by the length of primaries being more or less than 9 mm, the classification accuracies for EF and LF chicks were 96.2% and 85.4%, respectively, compared to the PCR results. In conclusion, juvenile EF and LF KNC showed distinct differences in feather development and morphology, and could be easily distinguished at one day-old.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.351-359
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to compare the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microflora, blood profiles and meat quality of broilers, Korean native chickens and white semi broilers under identical feeding conditions. Sixty 1-d chicks of each type were randomly placed into 12 pens per cage (5 chicks per cage) and fed commercial diets for 28, 49, and 28 days, respectively. The broilers showed a significantly higher (p < 0.05) growth performance from 0 to 4 weeks compared with the other types. Korean native chickens had a significantly higher (p < 0.05) digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen than that of the other species. The blood glucose was significantly higher in the Korean native chickens compared to the other species, and the blood cholesterol was significantly lower. The Lactobacillus content in Korean native chickens was significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared to the other species, and the E. coli content in the broilers was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in the Korean native chickens and white semi broilers. In terms of meat quality, the breast meat of the broilers had a high water content and pH level. The breast meat of the white semi broilers had a significantly lower (p < 0.05) shear force than that of the other species. In conclusion, there was an interspecific physiological difference due to the age and body weight of the chickens. The broilers had a higher growth performance and meat quality compared to the Korean native chickens and white semi broilers.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2019

This study was conducted to compare the heat stress response and production performance of chicks hatched in winter and summer. Among the 2,090 Korean native chickens examined, 1,156 hatched in winter and 934 hatched in summer. The amount of telomeric DNA, the expression of heat shock protein (HSP) genes, survival rate, egg production, and body weight were analyzed to evaluate the stress response and production performance of chickens. The results showed that the expression of HSP-70, $HSP-90{\alpha}$, and $HSP-90{\beta}$ genes in the winter-hatched chickens were significantly higher than those in the summer-hatched chickens during the growing and laying period (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the amount of telomeric DNA between summer- and winter-hatched chickens. The survival rate was significantly higher in the summer-hatched chickens than in the winter-hatched chickens at the laying period (P<0.01). The hen-day egg production and egg weight in the summer-hatched chickens were also significantly higher than those in the winter-hatched chickens (P<0.05). In contrast, age of sexual maturity of winter-hatched chickens was significantly earlier than that of summer-hatched chickens (P<0.01). The body weights from birth to 24 weeks were significantly lighter in the summer-hatched chickens than in the winter-hatched chickens, however, it was reversed after 28 weeks (P<0.05). In conclusion, the chicks hatched in the summer are more resistant to heat stress, with better productivity than the chicks hatched in the winter. These results suggest that the chicks grown at high temperatures have greater adaptability to the thermal environment.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.133-140
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to evaluate the growth performance between two different crossbred strains of Korean native chickens denoted as 1A and 2A compared to white semi broilers and Ross (RR) from hatching to 40 days. In total, 576 one-day-old chicks were allocated in a completely randomized design to give 18 replicate cages each (eight chicks per cage). The two-phase feeding program consisted of the starter (day 1 - 21: Crude protein [CP] 20% and metabolizable energy [ME], 3,050 kcal·kg^-1) and the grower (day 22 - 40: CP 18%, 3,100 kcal·kg^-1). The results revealed that 1A and 2A had a lower (p < 0.05) body weight (BW) from day 1 to day 40 compared with the other groups. A lower (p < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG) was observed in 1A and 2A during the entire period when compared with the other groups. The 1A and 2A groups had the minimum (p < 0.05) average daily feed intake (ADFI) compared with the other groups for the whole period. The RR had an improved (p < 0.05) FCR compared with the other groups during the whole period. The 1A and 2A groups were observed to have the lowest (p < 0.05) shank length compared with the other groups during the entire period.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.632-642
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• 2019

The concentrations of functional compounds and micronutrients of chicken breast from native chickens were compared with those from broiler. Totally 200 male chicks from a commercial native chicken (HH) and three newly bred native chicken strains (2A, 2C, and 2D) were reared for about 2 kg of final live weight up to 12 wk. After slaughtered, antioxidant dipeptides, reducing sugar, free amino acids, vitamins, and minerals of the breast muscles were analyzed with those from broilers with similar live weight. Mostly native chicken strains had higher contents of carnosine, anserine, and reducing sugar than the broiler. Especially HH implied the highest values of carnosine and anserine, and 2C did the highest of reducing sugar (p<0.05). Vitamin A contents between native chickens and broiler were not significantly different (p>0.05). The contents of ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ were significantly higher in 2C than those of HH or broiler (p<0.05). Native chicken strains contained lower cholesterol levels than the broiler. Broiler had higher contents of P, Mg, and Na than native chickens (p<0.05), but it had lower content of Cu than HH or 2A. The savory free amino acids including glutamic acid was highest in 2A than the other native chickens and broiler (p<0.05). This study confirms that certain new strains of native chickens be a good source in terms of functional compounds and micronutrients which can be attractive health promoting nutritional quality factors.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2024

The study was conducted to examine age-related development of digestive organs, intestinal microvilli hydrolase, and hepatic antioxidant enzyme in Korean native chicks (KNC) aged from 0-d to 28-d of post-hatching. Body weight did not significantly increase from 0-d to 3-d-old, but after that remarkably increased from 3-d to 28-d-old (P<0.05). The relative weight (g/100 g of BW) of the proventriculus, gizzard, and liver was significantly higher at 3- and 7-d-old chicks than that of the other ages. The relative weight of the intestine, mucosal tissues, and pancreas was markedly developed at the ages of 3-, 14-, and (or) 21-d-old chicks (P<0.05). In the small intestine, the specific activities of maltase and sucrose were significantly higher at 14-d-old compared with the other ages (P<0.05). Leucine aminopeptidase activity showed a constant level from 0- to 28-d-old without significance. The specific activity of alkaline phosphatase was significantly higher at 0-d-old compared with the other ages (P<0.05). In the liver, the specific activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione S-transferase were shown to be lowest at 0-d-old, but they continued to increase as the age increased. The lipid peroxidation was significantly high at the age of 21-d (P<0.05), after that its level decreased at 28-d old. In conclusion, the KNC rapidly developed digestive organs and intestinal microvilli hydrolase activity from 3- to 14-d-old after hatching. Hepatic antioxidant enzyme activity continued to increase as the age increased after hatching, resulting in 28-d-old chicks showing the highest antioxidant enzyme activity in the KNC.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2020

This study was carried out to identify the occurrence of transovarian transmitted diseases and antibody positive rates among Korean native breeder chickens. The infection rates with Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum among 16-week-old, 36-week-old, and 56-week-old breeder chickens and the antibody positive rates to Egg Drop Syndrome '76, Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae among 16-week-old, 18-week-old, and 56-week-old breeder chickens were identified, and the antibody positive rates to seven major transovarian transmitted diseases among 1-day-old chicks were investigated. As a result, no infection with Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum was found among the investigated subjects of all ages. Vaccinated breeder chickens showed the 100% antibody positive rate to Egg Drop Syndrome '76, and unvaccinated breeder chickens showed the 100% antibody negative rate to Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae, confirming that there was no infection with Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae. As a result of the antibody tests of the 1-day-old chicks for transovarian transmitted diseases, it was found that vaccinated chicks showed good antibody positive rates to avian encephalomyelitis, chicken infectious anemia, and avian reovirus, confirming that they had power of defense against the relevant infectious diseases, and that unvaccinated chicks showed the 100% antibody negative rates to avian leukosis, chicken reticuloendotheliosis, and Mycoplasma synoviae, confirming that there was no infection with the relevant diseases. Given that the results of this study showed that among the transovarian transmitted diseases of chickens, there was no history of infection with diseases against which vaccination was not administered and high antibody positive rates were found with diseases against which vaccination was administered, it is judged that chickens with good power of defense against diseases were bred, and it is deemed that constant monitoring and vaccination against transovarian transmitted diseases will be necessary for the control and prevention of the diseases.