• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.952-959
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate growth, behavior and carcass traits of fattening Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) steers managed in different group sizes. A total of 48 animals, 6 months of age, were allocated to one of three group sizes and the experiment was conducted from 12 to 30 months of age. Groups were balanced for weight and the group sizes consisted of 4, 8, or 12 steers which were named 4sG, 8sG and 12sG, respectively. When animals were 12 months of age, initial fasted body weight (BW, $304.51{\pm}12.40\;kg$) was measured. All animals were housed at a constant space allowance of $8.82\;m^2$ per animal, and a feeder and drinker were provided per 4 animals. The whole fattening stage was divided into three phases: phase I (from 12 to 18 month of age), phase II (from 19 to 24 month of age), and phase III (from 25 to 30 month of age). Steers managed in 12sG showed low (p<0.05) growth rate and feed conversion rate (FCR) in phase I and phase II when compared to other treatment groups. However, this difference was not observed for the whole fattening phase (p>0.05). Steers managed in 4sG had a thick (p<0.05) ultrasound back fat thickness at 15 and 18 months of age. However, group size had no effect on meat yield and quality traits of area and marbling score. Animals managed in 8sG yielded a better meat grade of "A" than the "B" grade in other treatment group sizes. Lean color, fat color, firmness and maturity scores did not differ among group sizes. Hanwoo steers housed under 12sG spent less time on eating concentrate, relevant higher eating rate, less frequency of allogrooming, and more time on walking (p<0.05). It could be concluded that a large group size retarded growth rate and back fat thickness in the fattening stage, which was mainly focused on 15 and 18 months of age.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2015

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway is well known as a candidate pathway related to meat quality in mammals. In particular, there are many studies on the relationship between the PPAR signaling pathway and intramuscular fat. However, recent studies have demonstrated that genes in the PPAR signaling pathway are associated with carcass weight in cattle. Among 48 genes in the PPAR signaling pathway, 16 genes are related to the insulin that regulates the adipocyte glucose metabolism and thus affects body weight. Therefore, we conducted an investigation to try to identify candidate genes associated with the carcass weight and relationships between the expressions of these 16 genes in the loin muscle of Hanwoo (Korean cattle). From regression analysis, the three genes (ACSL6, FADS2, and ILK) showed significant effects with regard to carcass weight (p<0.05). Finally, we analyzed the common regulators of the significant genes from pathway analysis. The significant genes are regulated by insulin as well as D-glucose. These findings show that the differentially expressed genes are possible candidate genes associated with carcass weight in the longissimus muscle of Korean cattle.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2004

In order to investigate the effect of floor condition on the fattening performance of cattle, sixteen finishing Hanwoo steers of weighting 570kg were fed for 16 weeks to slaughter on two types of sawdust bedding pen oriented to the south(SP) and the north(NP) then obtained following results. The floor condition of SP roofed by transparent material was dry and flat during overall experimental period, whereas, that of NP roofed by solid slate was muddy and rough even in summer and fall, and then frozen in winter period resulted in interfering with the locomotion and resting behavior of steers. Average daily dry matter intake of steers was not different between tow treatments, however, the average daily gain of steers in NP and SP was 0.64kg and 0.75kg, respectively, meaning that gained 14.3% less for the NP group(p<0.05), accordingly, feed requirement(feed/gain) and TDN/gain increased by 15.9% and 15.5%, respectively. No significant differences were found in slaughter weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage, meat yield index and meat quality traits between two treatments. In conclusion, this study revealed that poor floor condition of feeding pen could decrease weight gain and feed efficiency of cattle by increasing energy consumption for locomotion and conductive energy loss while resting on the floor surface. These results indicates that housing orientation of cattle shed and the selection of roof material are important factors in beef cattle production.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.433-438
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• 2016

This paper proposes a grade prediction method to measure meat quality in Hanwoo (Korean Native Cattle) using classification and feature extraction algorithms. The applied classification algorithm is an AdaBoost and the texture features of the given ultrasound images are extracted using SFTA. In this paper, as an initial phase, we selected ultrasound images of Hanwoo for verifying experimental results; however, we ultimately aimed to develop a diagnostic decision support system for human body scan using ultrasound images. The advantages of using ultrasound images of Hanwoo are: accurate grade prediction without butchery, optimizing shipping and feeding schedule and economic benefits. Researches on grade prediction using biometric data such as ultrasound images have been studied in countries like USA, Japan, and Korea. Studies have been based on accurate prediction method of different images obtained from different machines. However, the prediction accuracy is low. Therefore, we proposed a prediction method of meat quality. From the experimental results compared with that of the real grades, the experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method is superior to the other methods.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1314-1320
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• 2019

This study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms in exon 8 region of the calmin (CLMN) gene and to evaluate their associations with meat yield and quality traits in Hanwoo (Korean cattle). We compared gene expression pattern of CLMN between high and low marbling score groups with extremely different intramuscular fat content of the longissimus lumborum muscles in Hanwoo. The CLMN gene was highly expressed in the high marbling score group. Total of nine SNPs were identified in the exon 8 region of CLMN gene, genotyping of the SNPs was carried out using direct-sequencing analysis in Hanwoo population (n=300) to evaluate their association with meat yield and quality traits. As a result, g.23249G>C in exon 8 was significantly associated with marbling score. Animals with the CC and GC genotypes had higher marbling score than those with the GG genotype. We constructed haplotypes of CLMN gene by linkage disequilibrium analysis and analyzed association between haplotypes and meat yield and quality traits. Haplotype of CLMN gene was associated with marbling score. As a result, animals with the CC-CC haplotype (g.23249G>C and g.23465T>C SNPs) had higher marbling score than those with CT and GT haplotypes. These findings suggest that the SNPs of bovine CLMN gene may be a useful molecular marker for selection of meat quality traits in Hanwoo.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2023

Intermuscular fat is essential for enhancing the flavor and texture of cultured meat. Mesenchymal stem cells derived from intermuscular adipose tissues are a source of intermuscular fat. Therefore, as a step towards developing a platform to derive intermuscular fat from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for insertion between myofibrils in cultured beef, an advanced protocol of intermuscular adipose tissue dissociation effective to the isolation of MSCs from intermuscular adipose tissues was developed in cattle. To accomplish this, physical steps were added to the enzymatic dissociation of intermuscular adipose tissues, and the MSCs were established from primary cells dissociated with physical step-free and step-added enzymatic dissociation protocols. The application of a physical step (intensive shaking up) at 5 minutes intervals during enzymatic dissociation resulted in the greatest number of primary cells derived from intermuscular adipose tissues, showed effective formation of colony forming units-fibroblasts (CFU-Fs) from the retrieved primary cells, and generated MSCs with no increase in doubling time. Thus, this protocol will contribute to the stable supply of good quality adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) as a fat source for the production of marbled cultured beef.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.735-747
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• 2023

The composition of fatty acids determines the flavor and quality of meat. Flavor compounds are generated during the cooking process by the decomposition of volatile fatty acids via lipid oxidation. A number of research on candidate genes related to fatty acid content in livestock species have been published. The majority of these studies focused on pigs and cattle; the association between fatty acid composition and meat quality in chickens has rarely been reported. Therefore, this study investigated candidate genes associated with fatty acid composition in chickens. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed on 767 individuals from an F2 crossbred population of Yeonsan Ogye and White Leghorn chickens. The Illumina chicken 60K significant single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data and 30 fatty acids (%) in the breast meat of animals slaughtered at 10 weeks of age were analyzed. SNPs were shown to be significant in 15 traits: C10:0, C14:0, C18:0, C18:1n-7, C18:1n-9, C18:2n-6, C20:0, C20:2, C20:3n-6, C20:4n-6, C20:5n-3, C24:0, C24:1n-9, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). These SNPs were mostly located on chromosome 10 and around the following genes: ACSS3, BTG1, MCEE, PPARGC1A, ACSL4, ELOVL4, CYB5R4, ME1, and TRPM1. Both oleic acid and arachidonic acid contained the candidate genes: MCEE and TRPM1. These two fatty acids are antagonistic to each other and have been identified as traits that contribute to the production of volatile fatty acids. The results of this study improve our understanding of the genetic mechanisms through which fatty acids in chicken affect the meat flavor.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.667-672
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• 2020

It is well known that intensive selection caused a decline in reproductive performance in dairy cattle. Interestingly, the reproductive performances including fertility and calving interval of Korean native beef cattle have declined in the last 20 years, suggesting that a breeding program focusing on carcass weight and intramuscular fat may affect the reproductive physiology in Korean native beef cattle, too. In this study, we analyzed the calving interval (CI) and selection index (SI) based on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of Hanwoo cows for seven years (2013 - 2019). Multiparous cows (4.5 ± 0.11) were analyzed, which were bred by artificial insemination (AI). We first examined the distribution of the AIs and calving dates. About 40% of the AIs were carried out in May to June and October to December; subsequently, calving was observed from March to April and August to October, respectively, indicating the cows were seasonally bred. No correlation between CI and SI was found (y = 0.0459x - 17.64; R² = 0.0356), but the ratio of cows with a positive SI was higher in the longer CI group compared to the shorter group, suggesting that the selection for meat quality and quantity may affect the reproductive performances. In addition, the average value of SI was - 3.42 in the CI < 400 while + 5.79 in the CI > 400 although the values were not statistically significant. However, our results suggest that reproductive indices such as fertility and CI should be considered for sustainability in the Hanwoo breeding selection program.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.921-932
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• 2006

Management to improve beef tenderness is always been a historical idea, but during the recent past it has become an issue of prime importance to the meat scientists and the industries as well. Variation in tenderness is the prime explanation for consumer’s dissatisfaction for the concern meat. It has been well documented that both postmortem proteolysis and sarcomere length have significant effect on meat tenderness and its consistency. Electrical stimulation and tenderstretch techniques have been used by a number of countries to underpin carcass quality assurance schemes focused on eating quality. The mechanism(s) by which the postmortem interventions improve tenderness (or prevent toughness) has not been fully elucidated. However, it is evident that electrical stimulation accelerates the development of rigor mortis so that prevention of cold shortening is possible and ageing commences at higher temperatures. On the other hand, tendersretch appears to prevent meat toughness via placing tension of the myofibrils and connective matrix during rigor development. Previous findings indicated that electrical stimulation and tenderstretch improved beef tenderness even for fattened cattle under moderate chilling conditions. Recent studies demonstrate beef tenderness to be one of the most important factors determining satisfaction levels of Korean beef consumers. There are number of studies which reported that electrical stimulation and tenderstretch techniques improved Hanwoo tenderness and color. It is believed that the techniques are mostly useful wherein controls of carcass size, fatness and/or chilling regimes are not easy such as Korean beef industry. However, Korean beef industry is one such area where postmortem intervention techniques have not been adopted so far. Taking into consideration of the Korean beef industry, wherein carcass size and fatness varies the post-slaughter intervention technique could be the most feasible measurement to ensure eating quality. The manuscript attempts to highlight the current knowledge aiming primarily towards the assurance of beef tenderness.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1329-1333
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• 2004

To isolate the microsatellites from the chromosomal DNA of the Korean cattle (Hanwoo) and to use those for the genetic selection, four bacteriophage genomic libraries containing the chromosomal DNA of six Hanwoo steers showing the differences in meat quality and quantity were used. Screening of the genomic libraries using $^{32}P-radiolabeled 5'-({CA})_{12}-3$nucleotide as a probe, resulted in isolation of about 3,000 positive candidate bacteriophage clones that contain $(CA)_n$-type dinucleotide microsatellites. After confirming the presence of microsatellite in each positive candidate clone by Southern blot analysis, the DNA fragments that include microsatellite and flanking sequences possessing less than 2 kb in size, were subcloned into plasmid vector. Results from the analysis of microsatellite length polymorphism, using twenty-two PCR primers designed from flanking region of each microsatellite DNA, demonstrated that 208 and 210 alleles of HW-YU-MS#3 were closely related to the economic traits such as marbling score, daily gain, backfat thickness and M. longissimus dorsi area in Hanwoo. Interestingly, HW-YU-MS#3 microsatellite was localized in bovine chromosome 17 on which QTLs related to regulation of the body fat content and muscle ypertrophy locus are previously known to exist. Taken together, the results from the present study suggest the possible use of the two alleles as a DNA marker related to economic trait to select the Hanwoo in the future.