• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1709-1717
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• 2009

This review presents a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to assist Asian smallholder dairy farmers in identifying the possible causes for their poor farm performance and profitability. When assessing farm profitability, these indicators can be split into two types, those diagnosing problems with feeding management and those indicating poor herd management. As home grown forage is generally cheaper to source than purchased forage, the more produced on farm, the better. Too many stock on limited land is a common feature on Asian dairy small holdings. Unlike other classes of livestock, milking cows have very high nutrient requirements, therefore high quality forages and concentrates are essential for profitable dairying. Milk income less feed cost is one of the simplest and easy to measure indicators of farm profitability and is also quick to respond to small changes in farm practices. Problems with herd management can be diagnosed using measures such as the proportion of cows actually milking in the herd or their peak yield and persistency of production. There are also simple indicators of herd reproductive performance and of health and growth of young stock that assist in searching for the underlying causes of poor farm profitability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.830-837
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of monochromic light-emitting diode (LED) light with different color on the growth and reproductive performances of white Roman breeder geese. A randomized complete batch design was utilized for the trial, and the replicate was regarded as one batch. Twenty ganders and fifty-five dames were used in batch 1 (started on 2011/6/17 and ended on 2012/1/31), thirty ganders and eighty-four dames were used in batch 2 (started on 2012/3/23 and ended on 2012/10/26), and thirty ganders and seventy-two dames were used in batch 3 (started on 2013/3/12 and ended on 2013/12/20). Two hundred and ninety-one geese were randomly assigned to 6 rooms in an environmentally controlled house. They were randomly allotted into one of three monochromatic light treatments: Blue, red, or white. The results showed that there was no significant difference in body weight among the three lighting groups at any point throughout the experimental period. However, compared to the blue light group, significantly more eggs were produced by the red and white light groups (p<0.05). Furthermore, the laying period of the red light group was significantly longer than that of other two groups (p<0.05). In conclusion, our results suggested that red LED-light has the best effect on reproductive performance (i.e. longer laying period and higher total eggs number) at 30 lux light intensity, and is therefore a better choice for the management of breeding geese than blue or white LED-light.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.921-929
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• 2013

Huoyan goose is a Chinese local breed famous for its higher laying performance, but the problems of variety degeneration have emerged recently, especially a decrease in the number of eggs laid. In order to better understand the molecular mechanism that underlies egg laying in Huoyan geese, gene profiles in the pituitary gland of Huoyan geese taken during the laying period and ceased period were investigated using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method. Total RNA was extracted from pituitary glands of ceased period and laying period geese. The cDNA in the pituitary glands of ceased geese was subtracted from the cDNA in the pituitary glands of laying geese (forward subtraction); the reverse subtraction was also performed. After sequencing and annotation, a total of 30 and 24 up and down-regulated genes were obtained from the forward and reverse SSH libraries, respectively. These genes mostly related to biosynthetic process, cellular nitrogen compound metabolic process, transport, cell differentiation, cellular protein modification process, signal transduction, small molecule metabolic process. Furthermore, eleven genes were selected for further analyses by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The qRT-PCR results for the most part were consistent with the SSH results. Among these genes, Synaptotagmin-1 (SYT1) and Stathmin-2 (STMN2) were substantially over-expressed in laying period compared to ceased period. These results could serve as an important reference for elucidating the molecular mechanism of higher laying performance in Huoyan geese.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of vehicle disinfector nozzles using at the livestock farm. The nozzle of vehicle disinfectors was measured spraying rate and equality distribution ratio by pressures. The spraying rate of TK-I's nozzle was 1,605 ml/min at 3 MPa, TK-II's nozzle was 2,020 ml/min, JA's nozzle was 1,150 ml/min and IS's nozzle was 795 ml/min. The number of nozzles of TK-I's, TK-II's, JA's and IS's for reasonable spraying rate($25{\ell}/min$. at 3 MPa) was respectively 16, 13, 22 and 32 units. The equality distribution ratio of TK-I's nozzle by pressures was equalized and the nozzles of TK-II's, JA's and IS's was sprayed to the center or side more then other sides in the measured boxes.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 1998

Controlling malodor originating from livestock feces has become a major issue, due to its influence on the health of man and livestock, together with its influences on atmospheric pollution. In this study, Five types of biofilters filled with saw-dust, night soil, fermented compost, leaf mold and a mixture(a compound of night soil, fermented compost and leaf mold at the same rates, respectively) were manufactured and tested. To study the effect of the biofilter on reducing malodor in a composting facility and swine building, a pilot scale composting facility enclosed with polyethylene film was constructed. Swine feces was composted in the facility and malodorous gas generated from the decomposition of organic matter in the feces was gathered by vacuum pump. Each biofilter achieved 87∼96% NH3 removal efficiency. This performance was maintained throughout 10 days of operation. The highest NH3 removal efficiency was achieved by leaf mold on the first day of operation period. It reduced the concentration of NH3 by about 96%. Night soil and fermented compost showed nearly equal performance of 93 to 94% for 10 days from the beginning of operation. The mixture achieved the lowest NH3 removal efficiency. It reduced NH3 concentration by about 89∼94% for 10 days from the beginning of operation. However NH3 removal efficiency of each biofilter declined with the passage of operational time. After 30 days from the beginning of operation, NH3 removal efficiency of each biofilter of each biofilter was below 60%, respectively. The concentration of H2S and CH3-SH originating from compost were equal to or less than 5mg/l and 3mg/l, respectively. After passing throughout the biofilter, the concentration of H2S and CH3-SH were not detected.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.457-463
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• 2000

Fifty mid-lactation Holstein cows were used in a six-week feeding trial to study effects of high-forage, high-fat diets on dry matter intake and production performance. Cows were divided into 10 replicates, each consisting of five cows. Each cow was assigned to a control (diet 1) or one of the four experimental diets (high-forage (75%), high-fat (7.5%) (diet 2); high-forage, medium-fat (5%) (diet 3); medium forage (65%), high-fat (diet 4); medium-forage, medium-fat (diet 5)), or a control diet containing about 50% forage and 2% fat. All diets were isonitrogenous (17.7% crude protein). The forage mixture consisted of 20% alfalfa hay, 40% alfalfa haylage, and 40% com silage. Supplemental fat included 80% rumen-protected fat and 20% yellow grease. Dry matter intake was decreased (p<0.01) in cows fed experimental diets (18.4, 20.9, 19.9, and 22.6 kg for cows fed diets 1-4, respectively vs. 27.5 kg for cows fed the control diet). Daily milk production was lower (p<0.05) for cows consuming experimental diets (30.5, 31.3, 31.0, and 32.5 kg for cows fed greater for cows consuming experimental diets (1.74, 1.55, 1.60, and 1.53 kg milk/kg dry matter intake for cows fed diets 1-4, respectively, vs. 1.26 kg milk/kg dry matter intake for cows fed the control diet).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1348-1354
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• 2003

The feeding value of high-oil corn fed to Taiwan Country (TC) chicken was examined by measuring apparent metabolizable energy (AME), growth performance, sexual maturity, carcass characteristics, and plasma pigmentation. In a completely randomized design, 870 sex-intermingled one-wk-old chicks were assigned to one of 30 floor pens, 29 birds per pen, and each pen randomly assigned to one of five dietary treatments. The experiment was ended when birds were 16 wk of age. The five dietary treatments varied in main fat sources, which were corn oil (CO), high-oil corn (HOC), lard (LRD), whole soybean (WSB) and yellow corn (YC), respectively. All the diets were formulated isonitrogenously, isocalorically, and of equal lysine and methionine contents except YC, in which equal amounts of YC replaced HOC. The results indicated that feed conversion in HOC was 8% higher (p<0.05) than YC whereas the calculated AME of HOC was only 3.5% to 4.0% higher than that of YC. No significant differences were observed in body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and ME efficiency for body weight gain among CO, HOC, LRD, and WSB. No significant differences existed in both skin and muscle pigmentation of breast among the five dietary treatments. No significance differences existed in plasma carotenoid content measured at various ages among the five dietary treatments except that birds fed with HOC had less (p<0.05) plasma carotenoids at 16 wk-old. The results indicate that if the price of high-oil corn is no more than 1.05 times that of yellow corn, the dietary cost per kg of body weight gain for TC chickens fed diets containing high-oil corn will be less, although their body weight may be lighter compared to chickens fed diets formulated with other fat sources.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1455-1462
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• 2020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether goose growth and feather characteristics are influenced by their line and feeding surroundings, inclusive of floor materials and types, since there are no reports regarding these factors. Methods: The 240 White Roman geese which were hatched and sex identified came from 3 commercial goose farms. They were randomly distributed to 24 pens depending on a completely random design. The study continued for 13 weeks and included 3 lines of commercial geese and 2 floor types (cement strip floor [CSF] or cement floor [CF]). Results: The day one gosling weight from A farm was lower than other two farms (96 g vs 107 and 115 g; p<0.001). Afterwards, the body weight, back length, keel length, chest girth and main wing feather length among 3 farms showed no significance difference prior to 12 weeks. The CF group showed heavier body weight, shorter back length, longer keel length, shorter chest girth and shorter main wing feather length than the CSF group prior to 12 weeks. The down weight in the CF was heavier than the CSF group (57.1 g vs 41.8 g; p<0.01) prior to 13 weeks. Conclusion: The body weight showed the positive relations for dry feather weight (r = 0.59), down weight (r = 0.69), percent of the down weight of live body weight prior to 13 weeks (r = 0.61).

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.8.1-8.9
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• 2018

Background: Indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry farming has caused emergence of new pathogenic strains. The situation has warrented the development of safe and alternative growth promoters and immunity enhancers in livestock. Herbal additives in animal and bird feed is a centuries-old practice. Thus, the present study investigated the efficacy of a standardized formulation of lipophilic turmeric extract containing curcumin and turmerones, (TF-36), as a natural growth promoter poultry feed additive. Methods: The study was designed on 180 one-day old chicks, assigned into three groups. Control group ($T_0$) kept on basal diet and supplemented groups $T_{0.5}$ and $T_1$ fed with 0.5% and 1% TF-36 fortified basal diet for 42 days. Each dietary group consisted of six replicates of ten birds. Body weight, food intake, food conversion ratio, skin colour, blood biochemical analysis and antioxidant status of serum were investigated. Results: Body weight improved significantly in $T_1$ with a 10% decrease in FCR as compared to the control. TF-36 supplementation in $T_1$ enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activity significantly (p < 0.05) with a decrease (p < 0.05) in lipid peroxidation. It also caused a slight yellow skin pigmentation without any change in meat color, indicating the bioavailability of curcumin from TF-36. However, no significant change in the concentration of serum creatinine, total protein and liver enzyme activities were observed, indicating the safety. Conclusion: In summary, we concluded that TF-36 can be a natural feed additive to improve growth performance in poultry, probably due to the better antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effects contributed by the better bioavailability of curcuminoids and turmerones. Besides, curcuminoids and turmerones were also known to be gastroprotective and anti-inflammatory agents.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.31 no.3 s.116
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• pp.175-181
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• 2006

Nursery pig building is imperative to provide environmental conditions favorable to maintenance of piglet health and the efficiency of growth rate. To meet the ultimate goal, it is necessary to apply proper ventilation design and construction to a confinement livestock building. This study was conducted to investigate the performance of a modified ventilation system in terms of devised slot-inlet (modification I) and exhaust fan (modification II) to improve air change rate in a confined nursery pig building, with dimension of 5.9 m(W) ${\times}$ 12.6 m(L) ${\times}$ 2.2 m(H) in an Darby Genetic Station. The experiment was carried out in August, especially when the outdoor peak temperature were above $30^{\circ}C$ and the measured indoor environmental factors were temperature, air velocity, humidity and ammonia concentration which have been known to affect the piglet health and growth. There was no difference in indoor temperature between the original and modified ventilation systems, however the air velocity and ammonia concentration in confined nursery pig building with modified ventilation system were, in most cases, better performance than original ventilation system. Therefore, it was concluded that the slot-inlet system that kept indoor environmental factors pertinent and had an economic advantage, should be considered as a ventilation system for decreasing sensible heat from piglet in confined nursery pig building during extreme summer season.