• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.403-408
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• 2003

The study investigated the lipid metabolism of Tsaiya ducks under fasting and ad libitum feeding conditions. Sixty Tsaiya ducks in their growing period (8-12 wk-old) and sixty Tsaiya ducks in their laying period (26-30 wk-old, 10-14 weeks after the onset of laying) were randomly divided into ad libitum feeding and 3-day fasting groups. The activities of lipid metabolism related enzymes were determined. Experimental results indicated that fasting depressed the activities of lipogenesis related enzymes such as fatty acid synthetase and NADP-malic dehydrogenase in both periods (p<0.05). Fasting also increased the activities of liver fatty acid $\beta$-oxidation enzymes (p<0.05). However, the activities of lipoprotein lipase in adipose tissue, heart and ovarian follicle in both periods and the hormone-sensitive lipase of adipose tissue in the growing period were decreased by fasting (p<0.01).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.173-181
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• 1992

Duck is an important domestic animal, especially in Asia. Eighty five percent of ducks in the world are kept in Asia, especially in the East and South Asia regions. The ancestor of domesticated ducks was mallard (Anas platylhynchos), which are still migrating between north and southern parts in Eurasia. Ducks have been domesticated in China for at least 3000 years ago. Phylogenetic studies on ducks, employing electrophoresis of blood proteins, indicate a marked difference of genetic constitution between duck breeds in southeast Asia and those in northeast Asia. Duck embryonic ovary is much more active in secretion of sex steroid hormones especially estradiol than the embryonic testes. Estradiol secreted by the embryonic left ovary has an important role in female sexual differentiation in ducks. In the female ducks, plasma LH, estradiol and testosterone levels increase and reach peaks shortly before the first egg, while progesterone level reach a peak shortly after the first egg. In laying ducks oviposition mostly occurs in the last 3 hr of darkness and first hr of light ranging 02:00-06:00 under 14 hr light (05:00-19:00) and 10 hr darkness photoperiodic condition. Measurements of plasma hormone levels reveal that onset of darkness is a major signal for LH release from the pituitary and the subsequent release of progesterone from ovary, and for induction of ovulation in the female duck.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제16권12호
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• pp.1705-1710
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• 2003

A small body size of Brown Tsaiya laying duck is desirable to reduce maintenance requirements, so the body weight at 40 weeks of age (BW40) has to be maintained at its current level. Egg weight has to be maintained at around 65 g to meet market requirements. Eggshell strength at 40 weeks of age (ES40) must to be increased in order to maintain a low incidence of broken eggs. Thus, number of eggs laid up to 52 weeks of age (EN52) has to be increased without negative correlated response on ES40. A new linear genetic selection index was used: $I_g=a_0{\times}GEW40\;(g)+a_1{\times}GBW40\;(g)+a_2{\times}GES40\;(kg/cm^2)+a_3{\times}GEN52\;(eggs)$ where GEW40, GBW40, GES40 and GEN52 were the multitrait best linear unbiased prediction (MT-BLUP) animal model predictors of the breeding values respectively of egg weight and body weight at 40 weeks of age (EW40, BW40), ES40 and EN52. The coefficients $a_0$, $a_1$, $a_2$ and $a_3$ were calculated with constraints of 0.0 g, 0.0 g and $0.013kg/cm^2$ for expected genetic gains in EW40, BW40 and ES40 respectively and maximum gain in EN52. Since 1997, the drakes and the ducks were selected according to their own indexes, with this new genetic selection index. From G0 to G4, the average per generation predicted genetic responses in female duck were +0.05 g for EW40, +0.92 g for BW40, $+0.035kg/cm^2$ for ES40 and +2.13 eggs for EN52. Which represented respectively 0.07%, 0.06%, 0.67% and 1.0% of the means of the EW40, BW40, ES40 and EN52. For ES40 and EN52, it represented also respectively 16.1% and 21.6% of the additive genetic standard deviation of these traits. Thevse results indicated that selection of laying Brown Tsaiya by a restricted genetic selection index and with MT-BLUP animal model could be an efficient tool for improving the efficiency of egg production, increasing egg shell strength and egg number while holding egg weight and body weight constants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권11호
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• pp.1562-1569
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• 2004

The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs)-enriched diet supplemented with different levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol on the activities of hepatic lipogenic-related enzymes and the contents of liver and plasma lipid fractions in laying Tsaiya ducks. A total of 180 30-wk-old laying Tsaiya ducks, at the beginning of peak production, were allotted into 6 treatments with 3 replicates each. Ducks were fed one of the 6 experimental diets, containing 4% tallow (control), and 4% fish oil supplemented with graded levels of $\alpha$-tocopheryl acetate ($\alpha$-tocopherol) at 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, for 6 wks. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum throughout the experimental period. The results indicated that the n-3 PUFAsenriched diet supplemented with different levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol did not affect (p>0.05) egg weight, feed intake, body weight change or liver and abdominal fat weights. Egg production, egg mass and feed efficiency significantly (p<0.05) improved as dietary $\alpha$-tocopherol levels increased. The activities of hepatic lipogenic-related enzymes including acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6. 2. 1. 3; ACC), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1. 1. 1. 49; G-6-PDH), ATP-citrate cleavage enzyme (EC 4. 1. 3. 8; CCE), NADP-malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.40; NADP-MDH) and fatty acid synthetase (FAS) were higher (p<0.05) in birds fed with the tallow diet than in those fed with fish oil diets and increased with increasing dietary $\alpha$-tocopherol levels. None of the dietary treatments significantly affected the contents of triglyceride and total cholesterol in the liver, or total cholesterol, phospholipid and total lipid in the plasma. However, the contents of phospholipid and total lipid in the liver, and triglyceride in the plasma increased as dietary $\alpha$-tocopherol levels increased. Increasing dietary $\alpha$-tocopherol levels decreased the non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) content in the plasma and trended to decrease the cholesterol contents in the egg yolk. The lipid metabolism of laying Tsaiya ducks was influenced not only by the dietary fat but also by the supplementation levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.444-449
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• 2006

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of cheese byproduct on performance, egg quality and fatty acid profile of egg yolk lipids from laying hens. One hundred five 30-wk-old White leghorn laying hens were randomly distributed into five groups of twenty one hens each and maintained in individual laying cages for 4 weeks. The hens were assigned to five treatments that consisted of corn-soybean meal based diets containing 0, 1, 3, 5 or 10% of cheese byproduct. Feed intake and rate of egg production of hens were not significantly different across the treatments during the whole experiment (p>0.05). Similarly, egg yolk cholesterol level, egg weight, Haugh's unit, eggshell thickness, color, and strength were not significantly different across the treatments (p>0.05). The amount of C16:0 in egg yolk was not significantly different across the treatments, but that of C18:0 decreased with increased cheese byproduct (p<0.01). Monounsaturated fatty acid (C16:1 and C18:1) content in egg yolk was similar across the treatments. Total CLA and cis-9, trans-11 CLA content increased linearly with increased cheese byproduct (p<0.001), while trans-10, cis-12 CLA amount was not significantly different across the treatments (p>0.05). Total saturated fatty acid (SFA) in the egg yolk was decreased as the level of cheese byproduct including CLA increased (p<0.01). However, the amount of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) such as monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-6 PUFA, and total PUFAs in the egg yolk were not significantly different across the treatments (p>0.05). Therefore, the present results showed that cheese byproduct beneficially improved the fatty acid composition of concern to human health in the egg yolk without adverse effects on egg quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.290-296
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• 2003

Tsaiya ducks and Leghorn hens are the two major laying birds raised in Taiwan. They are all excellent egg layers. Tsaiya ducks are small in body size (1.3 kg) with bigger egg weight (65 g) and stronger eggshell breaking strength than eggs from hens. The eggshell consists mainly of calcium carbonate, hence calcium plays an important role in the eggshell formation. Magnesium is also present in eggshell in small amounts, which may have effect on maintaining eggshell quality. In comparison studies, it was shown that the duck eggshells contained higher calcium and lower magnesium content than chicken eggshells. The eggshell magnesium content was not affected by the dietary magnesium levels (690-2380 ppm) in ducks, but in hens, it increased linearly with dietary magnesium levels. The palisade layer ($5000{\times}$) of the eggshell was found to have a compact form for ducks while there are many hallow vesicles in chicken eggshells. The eggshell magnesium deposition model is different for ducks and hens with ducks having a one-peak and hens having a two-peak model. The calcium deposition model is similar for both birds. Both the carbonic anhydrase specific activity and total activity in the shell gland mucosa of ducks are higher than those in hens. Ducks retain higher magnesium and lower calcium in the shell gland mucosa and secret less magnesium and more calcium into the shell gland lumen for eggshell deposition. The ATPase specific activity is maintained fairly constant during the eggshell forming stage, indicating continuous calcium transport into the shell gland lumen for eggshell formation. The magnesium content in duck eggshells is much lower than that in hens indicating that the magnesium content in the eggshell may have an effect on eggshell quality.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전기학회 2000년도 하계학술대회 논문집 C
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• pp.1978-1980
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• 2000

Because the interfaces between two different materials are the weak-link in the underground power transmission systems, they affects the stability of insulation systems. In this paper, Epoxy/EPDM interface is selected and investigated the optimum condition by variation of interfacial conditions such as roughness of surface, spreading of oils, interfacial pressure and temperature. The breakdown times under the constant voltage below the breakdown voltage were also gamed. The breakdown voltage at the after laying time equivalent to is calculated by the V-t characteristic and the inverse power law. When this is done. the characteristic life exponent n is used and the long time breakdown voltage can be evaluated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.217-224
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• 1992

The study was undertaken to determine the effect of dietary magnesium on the eggshell quality and other performance in laying Tsaiya ducks and Leghorn hens. Twenty-five Tsaiya ducks and 25 Leghorn hens were raised in individual cages. The basal diet was mainly consisted of corn starch and isolated soybean protein. At the beginning of the experiments, birds were fed for 10 days with the basal diet supplemented with 500 mg/kg Mg (1070 mg/kg in total by analysis) in order to allow the birds adapting to the new diet. Both Tsaiya ducks and Leghorn hens were then each randomly divided into five groups and each group of five birds were fed with the experimental diets containing 690, 1070, 1690, 2150 or 2380 mg/kg Mg, respectively for 21 days. Eggs were collected in order to measure eggshell quality, Mg and Ca content of the eggshell. At the end of the experiments, blood samples of all birds were taken from their brachial veins for measuring the concentration of Mg and Ca in the plasma. Experimental results appeared that the dietary Mg content did not significantly affect egg production, egg weight, eggshell breaking strength and thickness in both Tsaiya ducks and Leghorn hens. In Tsaiya ducks, however, the plasma Mg concentration was affected by the dietary Mg content, but the plasma Mg almost reached a plateau (4.66 mg/dl) as long as the dietary Mg level was over 1070 mg/kg. In Leghorn hens, the plasma Mg level was significantly increased from 1.66 mg/dl to 4.03 mg/dl when the dietary Mg content in the diet had been increased from 690 mg/kg to 2380 mg/kg, suggesting that the plasma Mg concentration seems to be directly influenced by the Mg absorbed in the intestine. In the Tsaiya ducks, however, the dietary Mg level did not significantly affect the eggshell Mg content (from 0.113% to 0.123%). Whereas, there was a negative correlation between the eggshell thickness and eggshell Mg content (r = -0.50, p<0.01), revealing that the increase in eggshell Mg content probably associated with the impairment of eggshell quality in Tsaiya ducks. In Leghorn hens, however, there was no significant correlation between eggshell quality and eggshell Mg content, although the Mg content in the eggshell was also increased from 0.279% to 0.427% when the dietary Mg had been elevated from 690 mg/kg to 2380 mg/kg.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.224-235
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• 2022

Objective: Cage rearing has critical implications for the laying duck industry because it is convenient for feeding and management. However, caging stress is a type of chronic stress that induces maladaptation. Environmental stress responses have been extensively studied, but no detailed information is available about the comprehensive changes in plasma metabolites at different stages of caging stress in ducks. We designed this experiment to analyze the effects of caging stress on performance parameters and oxidative stress indexes in ducks. Methods: Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) was used to determine the changes in metabolites in duck plasma at 5 (CR5), 10 (CR10), and 15 (CR15) days after cage rearing and traditional breeding (TB). The associated pathways of differentially altered metabolites were analyzed using Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) database. Results: The results of this study indicate that caging stress decreased performance parameters, and the plasma total superoxide dismutase levels were increased in the CR10 group compared with the other groups. In addition, 1,431 metabolites were detected. Compared with the TB group, 134, 381, and 190 differentially produced metabolites were identified in the CR5, CR10, and CR15 groups, respectively. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) show that the selected components sufficiently distinguish the TB group and CR10 group. KEGG analysis results revealed that the differentially altered metabolites in duck plasma from the CR5 and TB groups were mainly associated with ovarian steroidogenesis, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and phenylalanine metabolism. Conclusion: In this study, the production performance, blood indexes, number of metabolites and PCA were compared to determine effect of the caging stress stage on ducks. We inferred from the experimental results that caging-stressed ducks were in the sensitive phase in the first 5 days after caging, caging for approximately 10 days was an important transition phase, and then the duck continually adapted.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.206-210
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• 2017

Objective: A study was conducted to test six threonine (Thr) levels (0.39%, 0.44%, 0.49%, 0.54%, 0.59%, and 0.64%) to estimate the optimal dietary Thr requirements for Longyan laying ducks from 17 to 45 wk of age. Methods: Nine hundred Longyan ducks aged 17 wk were assigned randomly to the six dietary treatments, where each treatment comprised six replicate pens with 25 ducks per pen. Results: Increasing the Thr level enhanced egg production, egg weight, egg mass, and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) (linearly or quadratically; p<0.05). The Haugh unit score, yolk color, albumen height, and the weight, percentage, thickness, and breaking strength of the eggshell did not response to increases in the Thr levels, but the albumen weight and its proportion increased significantly (p<0.05), whereas the yolk weight and its proportion decreased significantly as the Thr levels increased. Conclusion: According to a regression model, the optimal Thr requirement for egg production, egg mass, and FCR in Longyan ducks is 0.57%, while 0.58% is the optimal level for egg weight from 17 to 45 wk of age.