• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2005

The effect of different particle sizes of scoria inclusion in weanling-growing-finishing diets on growth performance and carcass quality was investigated in this study. Treatments were the control (basal diet), and 3 scoria treatments with different partical sizes (500, 1,000, 1,700 ${\mu}m$, respectively) in which $3\%$ of basal diet was replaced by scoria. This study was carried out for 143 days using 84 pigs. Each treatment has 3 replicates (4 gilts and 3 barrows per pen). 1. During nursery period, all scoria treatment levels showed poor Average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency compared to the control. During growing period, The ADG and feed efficiency of pigs fed the $1,000\;{\mu}m$ swine treatment tended to improve. For the whole growth period (d 0-143), $1,000\;{\mu}m$ scoria treatment showed significantly higher (P<0.05) ADG and feed efficiency than the $1,700\;{\mu}m$ scoria treatment. 2. Carcass weight was higher in all of scoria treatment levels Either the control (P<0.05), while backfat thickness was unaffected among treatments. Carcass Grade A or B grade appearance was more evident in all of scoria treatments compared to the control. 3. Hunter L value was numerically higher in the control while there was no significant differences among the control, $1,000\;{\mu}m$ scoria and $1,700\;{\mu}m$. Hunter a value was highest (P<0.05) in $1,000\;{\mu}m$ scoria, while Hunter b values were not influenced by the scoria treatment levels. 4. The different scoria treatment levels reduced N and P excretion. For growing period, $1,000\;{\mu}m$ scoria was most efficient in reducing N excretion, while during the finishing period, $1,700\;{\mu}m$ scoria was the best. The P excretion was affected by scoria particle size during growing-finishing periods rather than weanling period. The above findings indicated that the inclusion of different scoria partical sizes in nursery diet resulted to adverse effects on growth performance in contrast to the growing finishing diets wherein the growth performance and carcass quality were not affected. Finally, scoria regardless of particle size proved to be effective in reducing N and P excretion and can be considered an environment friendly mineral source for growing-finishing hog diets.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2008

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is the most economically important viral infectious disease in pig populations worldwide. This study was conducted to better understand the epidemic and dynamics of PRRS virus (PRRSV) on each farm and to evaluate the risk of PRRSV infection in Korea. Interviews with pig farmers were carried out to obtain PRRS vaccination programmes in 60 pig farms throughout Korea. Blood samples were also collected from the 59 pig farms to investigate outbreak patterns of each farm. Vaccination against PRRS was performed in 16.7% farms for breeding pigs and 8.3% of farms for nursery pigs. According to the seroepidemiological analysis, 56 (94.9%) out of 59 farms were considered to be affected by PRRSV infection. The results revealed that 68.9% of sows tested were seroconverted and interestingly, gilt herds had the highest seropositive rate (73%), suggesting that gilts may play a key role in PRRSV transmission in sow herds. Among the PRRS-affected piglet herds, 33 (55.9%), 14 (23.7%) and 6 (10.2%) farms were initially infected with PRRSV during the weaning, suckling and nursery period, respectively. It seems likely, therefore, that PRRSV infection predominantly occurs around the weaning period in piglet herds. Based on antibody seroprevalence levels in both sow and piglet groups, we were able to classify patterns of PRRSV infection per farm unit into 4 categories; category 1 (stable sow groups and non-infected piglet groups), category 2 (unstable sow groups and non-infected piglet groups), category 3 (stable sow groups and infected piglet groups), and category 4 (unstable sow groups and infected piglet groups). Our data suggested that 43 (72.9%) farms were analysed to belong to category 4, which is considered to be at high-risk for PRRS outbreak. Taken together, our information from this study will provide insight into the establishment of an effective control strategy for PRRS on the field.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2011

A total of 96 crossbred weanling barrows aged 21 days were randomly allocated to 32 pens of a new nursery to investigate the effects of antibiotics, phytogenics, and probiotics on intestinal growth and development. The animals were fed a set of three-phase basal diets containing 0.3% zinc oxide (CON) or the basal diets supplemented with 353 ppm of a combination of tiamulin, neomycin, chlortetracycline, and oxytetracycline (ANTI), 75 ppm triterpenoid saponin plus 150 ppm mixed saccharides (HERB; Sacchapin$^{(R)}$), or $1{\times}10^7$ brewer's yeasts plus $8{\times}10^7$ spores of each of Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis per kilogram feed (PROBIO; Yeasture Plus 2B$^{(R)}$) for five weeks. Thirty-two pigs representing as many pens were slaughtered at the end of the feeding trial, after which morphological measures and digestive enzyme activities of intestinal mucosa were determined. Weight gain and gain:feed of the pigs were not affected by the dietary treatments (TRT) during the overall feeding trial. Total intestinal length was greater in PROBIO than in ANTI (P<0.05). Wet mucosa weight of the duodenum was not affected by TRT. However, jejunal mucosa weight was greater in PROBIO than in any other group sum of mucosa weights of the duodenum and jejunum was greater (P<0.05) in PROBIO than in ANTI and HERB. The height and width of duodenal villus were not affected by TRT, but crypt depth decreased (P<0.05) in response to HERB and PROBIO vs CON. Specific activities of alkaline phosphatase, sucrase, maltase, lactase, and leucine aminopeptidase in the duodenum and jejunum were not changed by TRT. In conclusion, results suggest that the present dietary treatments have no effects on growth performance of weanling pigs and that of PROBIO enhances intestinal growth and development under a clean experimental setting.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.156-166
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• 2007

Soybean meal was widely used as a protein source in pig feedstuff because it has a good amino acid balance compared with other vegetable sources. However, soybeans contain trypsin inhibitors and other antinutritional factors which can lead to lower the digestibility of amino acid, and consequently reduce the growth performance. Heat treatment of soybeans is helpful shown to decrease the antinutritional factors and elicit an improved growth performance. Additionally, microbial processe using(HP 100, HP 200 and HP 300), and non-protein constituent removal are suggested to improve the growth performance and nutrient digestibility. Inadequate heat treatment of soybeans gives no damage to adult pig, but it has been shown to decrease nutrient digestibility in young pig. So, soy protein concentrate (SPC) and Isolated soy protein(ISP) were more widely used for nursery pigs than growing and finishing pigs, since SPC and ISP have similar characteristics as milk product.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2009

We studied the seroprevalence of four respiratory pathogens in Korean swine farms located in Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk provinces during the period of spring of 2007 to winter of 2008. Serological tests were performed using commercial ELISA kits. A total of 530 serum samples were tested for the antibodies against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo) and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP). Seroprevalence for four respiratory pathogens were estimated by ELISA-positive rates of the submitted samples. The overall seropositive rates of PRRSV, APP, M. hyo and PCV2 were 32.6%, 10.6%, 38.4% and 88.5%, respectively. By production stage, the seropositive rate for PRRSV was highest in nursery pig populations (46.2%). In contrast, the highest seropositive rates of APP and M. hyo were observed in sow and growing pigs. However, the seroprevalence of PCV2 was ranged from 85.7% to 89.6%, showing no significant difference among the production stages. In the seroprevalence by season, PRRSV, APP and M. hyo infections revealed typical seasonal patterns that the peaks of the seropositive rates were observed between early winter and late spring. In case of PCV2, no particular seasonal patterns were noticed. The pig herds in Gyeongbuk province where PMWS was endemic during the period of survey showed the highest seropositive rates for PRRSV (44.6%), M. hyo (47.5%), and PCV2 (92.7%). Seropositive rates for APP of four provinces were approximately 10%. These results might be valuable for control and prevention of the respiratory diseases and helpful to define strategies related to vaccine applications.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.587-591
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• 2004

Blood samples from 622 pigs of 44 farms which were sero-positive to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo) by ELISA method were collected from May 2003 to July 2004. And they were divided into 2 categories : M. hyo-vaccinated group (7 swine farms) and M. hyo-non-vaccinated group (37 swine farms). Then, each swine farm was analysed by sero-positive percentage per weeks of age. It was observed that the sero-positive percentage to M. hyo is directly proportional to weeks of age in the 44 swine farms that were selected. This meant that there has been a chronic infection of M. hyo in Korean swine herds and control of M. hyo infection did not have worked efficiently. In 7 M. hyo-vaccinated swine farms, there were no reliable patterns between sero-positive percentage to M. hyo and weeks of age. Although the swine farms have been used M. hyo vaccine, they had only little sero-positive percentage that was less than 50% at 6 to 11 weeks of age. This means a present vaccination program does not induce sufficiently a seroconversion expected. In 37 M. hyo-non-vaccinated swine farms, it was observed that sero-positive percentage was higher at above 15 weeks of age. This result showed that infection of M. hyo occurred commonly at between 7 and 12 weeks of age, at which pigs moved to the growing house. Because a risk of natural infection is severe at growing stage as well as nursery stage, it suggested that M. hyo vaccination at several weeks prior to the growing stage will give efficient effect to control the enzootic pneumonia.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.154-160
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• 2021

Objective: The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of piglets in the nursery phase was evaluated. Methods: A total of 450 hybrid pigs (21 day old), including both females and uncastrated males, weighing approximately 6 kg, were distributed in a completely randomised design with 3 treatments and 3 replicates of 50 animals each. The treatments were: i) pen without environmental enrichment (control), ii) treatment consisting of continuous environmental enrichment (CEE) with rubber balls throughout the experimental period, and iii) treatment consisting of environmental enrichment with washed balls (EEWB) during the whole experimental period which were removed daily for washing. For the behavioural evaluation, 10 animals were randomly selected per replicate. The behavioural assessments were performed once a week, from 8 am to 6 pm, using images captured with a video camera. The data were submitted to non-parametric analyses, the means were compared using the Bonferroni test, and Person's correlations were also calculated. Results: A statistical difference (p = 0.001) was observed in the B5 (playful) behaviour; the animals in the EEWB treatment group had a higher frequency of this behaviour than animals in the control treatment group. The animals in the control group showed a higher frequency of B7 behaviour (lying down) (p = 0.026) than those in the EEWB and CEE treatment groups. The animals in the control group had a higher frequency of the B9 (belly nosing) behaviour than those in the EEWB group (p = 0.015). There was a tendency towards a higher frequency of behaviour B3 (walking in the pen) (p = 0.067) when the animals received the control treatment than treatments EEWB or CEE. Conclusion: The use of an enriching object improved the animal welfare and altered the correlation between the evaluated behaviours compared to the animals that did not have environmental enrichment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.403-409
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• 2018

Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of a lipid-coated zinc oxide (ZnO) supplement Shield Zn (SZ) at the sub-pharmacological concentration on intestinal morphology and gene expression in weanling pigs, with an aim to gain insights into the mechanism of actions for SZ. Methods: Forty 22-day-old weanling pigs were fed a nursery diet supplemented with 100 or 2,500 mg Zn/kg with uncoated ZnO (negative control [NC] or positive control [PC], respectively), 100, 200, or 400 mg Zn/kg with SZ for 14 days and their intestinal tissues were taken for histological and molecular biological examinations. The villus height (VH) and crypt depth (CD) of the intestinal mucosa were measured microscopically following preparation of the tissue specimen; expression of the genes associated with growth and immune function was determined using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: There was no difference in daily gain, gain:feed, and diarrhea score between the SZ group and either of NC and PC. The VH and VH:CD ratio were less for the SZ group vs NC in the jejunum and duodenum, respectively (p<0.05). The jejunal mucosal mRNA levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) and interleukin (IL)-10 regressed and tended to regress (p = 0.053) on the SZ concentration with a positive coefficient, respectively, whereas the IL-6 mRNA level regressed on the SZ concentration with a negative coefficient. The mRNA levels of IGF-I, zonula occludens protein-1, tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$, IL-6, and IL-10 did not differ between the SZ group and either of NC and PC; the occludin and transforming growth $factor-{\beta}1$ mRNA levels were lower for the SZ group than for PC. Conclusion: The present results are interpreted to suggest that dietary ZnO provided by SZ may play a role in intestinal mucosal growth and immune function by modulating the expression of IGF-I, IL-6, and IL-10 genes.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to quantify the levels of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide inmechanically ventilated slurry-pit swine house according to pig's growth stage and seasonal condition. Mean concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the housing room of gestation/farrowing pigs were 5.60 (${\pm}2.48$) ppm and 178.4 (${\pm}204.8$) ppb in spring, 2.51 (${\pm}3.08$) ppm and 86.6 (${\pm}112.5$) ppb in summer, 4.96 (${\pm}2.84$) ppm and 182.3 (${\pm}242.6$) ppb in autumn, and 6.82 (${\pm}3.42$) ppm and 206.3 (${\pm}356.8$) ppb in winter, respectively. Mean concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the housing room of nursery pigs were 7.18 (${\pm}3.26$) ppm and 486.0 (${\pm}190.2$) ppb in spring, 4.23 (${\pm}2.95$) ppm and 206.4 (${\pm}186.9$) ppb in summer, 7.02 (${\pm}2.65$) ppm and 465.4 (${\pm}156.8$) ppb in autumn, and 9.25 (${\pm}3.68$) ppm and 618.4 (${\pm}298.3$) ppb in winter, respectively. Mean concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the housing room of growing/fattening pigs were 9.26 (${\pm}3.02$) ppm and 604.4 (${\pm}186.8$) ppb in spring, 6.78 (${\pm}3.88$) ppm and 312.5 (${\pm}215.4$) ppb in summer, 9.34 (${\pm}2.14$) ppm and 578.2 (${\pm}248.1$) ppb in autumn, and 14.65 (${\pm}3.15$) ppm and 825.3 (${\pm}316.9$) ppb in winter, respectively. As a result, mean concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in terms of pig's growth stage were highest in growing/fattening housing room followed by nursery housing room and gestation/farrowing housing room (p<0.05). The swine house showed the highest levels of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in winter followed by spring, autumn and summer. However, there was no significant difference of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide among seasons (p>0.05).

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.123-134
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• 2002

An experiment was conducted to establish the most suitable ventilation system for the enclosed nursery pig house in Korea, comparing four different ventilation systems ; i) air enters through perforated ceiling and exhausts through chimney (NA), ii) air enters through perforated ceiling and exhausts through side walls (NB), iii) air enters through perforated ducts and exhausts through side walls (NC) and iv) air enters through perforated ducts and exhausts through chimney(ND). The experiment was carried out during winter and summer separately. The experimental pigs were weaned at fourteen days old in winter (December-February) and at twenty one days old in summer (June-August). The main results of the experiment are as follows : A preliminary experiment showed that in the NC system during summer, air can reach all the pig rooms in the house and the air flow rates of the upper, middle (1.2 m height of the room) and low (at the height of pig stature) parts of the room were measured at 7.0-8.08, over 0.5 and over 0.2 m/s, respectively, which flow rates were much higher(p$<$0.05) than those in other system. At the minimum ventilation efficiency during winter, air flow rates of upper, middle and low parts of the room equipped with the NC system were detected at over 1, less than 0.5 and around 0.07 m/s, respectively. It is concluded that the separated ventilation system air-entering through ducts is the most suitable for the ventilation system of the enclosed nursery pig house and the exhausting system through side walls is more efficient for ventilation than the system through roof. Furthermore, to sustain proper temperature and reduce energy waste as well as heat consumption, a future research should be carried out to develop the environmental control system in relation to developing a heat regulator.