• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to detect expression of genes related to egg production in Taiwan Country chickens by suppression subtractive hybridization. Liver samples of mRNA extraction from two Taiwan Country chicken strains (L2 and B), originated from the same population but with very distinct egg production rates after long-term selection for egg and meat production respectively. Two-way subtraction was performed. The hepatic cDNA from the low egg production chickens (B) was subtracted from the hepatic cDNA from the high egg production strain (L2). The reversed subtraction (L2 from B) was also performed. The resulting differentially expressed gene fragments were cloned and sequenced. We sequenced 288 clones from the forward subtraction and 96 clones from the reverse subtraction. These genes were subjected to further screening to confirm the differential expression between the two genetic breeds of chickens. The apolipoprotein B (apoB) was expressed to a greater extent in the liver of the L2 than in the B line chickens. The 5-aminoimidazole- 4-carboxamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase/IMP cyclohydrolase (PURH) was expressed to a greater extent in the liver of the B than in the L2 strain chickens. We demonstrated that both apoB and PURH were more highly expressed in the liver than that in other tissues (muscle, ovary, and oviduct) in laying Taiwan Country chickens. Taken together, these data suggest that after the selection for egg production, expression of apoB and PURH genes were also changed. Whether the changed expression of these genes is directly related to egg production is not known, but these two genes may be useful markers for egg laying performance in Taiwan Country chickens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1726-1730
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• 2000

High fibre (CF, 242 g/kg) sunflower seed meal (SSM) was incorporated in standard grower and layer quail diets at 0, 50, 75 or 100 g/kg replacing part of the soybean meal (SBM) and deoiled rice bran (DORB). Each grower diet was offered to 30 quails housed in battery cages from day one to 5 weeks of age. At the end of the growing period, Twelve female quails from each of the four respective dietary groups were transferred to the individual laying cages and their laying performance from 7 to 20 weeks of age were evaluated on diets containing SSM at similar levels as that during the growing period. The results of growth bioassay revealed that the live weight gain, feed intake, nutrient retention and carcass characteristics of quails in different dietary groups did not vary significantly (p>0.05), although the quails fed SSM based diets utilized the feed less (p<0.05) efficiently than those fed the control diet. During the laying period, the egg production and egg quality traits remained unaffected due to dietary treatments but feed required per unit egg production increased (p<0.05) as the level of SSM in diet was increased to 100 g/kg. Although, the cost of feed per kg decreased due to the incorporation of SSM in diet but the same was not reflected in feed cost per unit gain, meat or egg production as such parameters were comparable on all the diets. It could thus be concluded that the SSM can be incorporated in quail diets upto 100 g/kg for part of SBM, an item usually expensive and also in short supply in developing countries including India.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.27-37
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• 2024

The poultry plays a crucial role in the animal industry, providing humans with efficient, high-quality animal protein. The rapid growth and short generational intervals of broilers offer significant benefits compared to other economic animals. This growth and increased muscle mass in modern commercial broilers result from advancements in breeding. However, the high productivity of contemporary broilers indicates they are approaching their physiological limits, with excessive fat accumulation becoming a significant industry issue. This not only reduces lean meat yield and feed efficiency but also negatively impacts consumers, especially due to problematic abdominal fat, which consumes more energy than lean meat production. Laying hens, reared for extended periods, maintain high productivity, producing a substantial number of eggs. This productivity in laying hens, akin to broilers, stems from genetic selection and breeding. For egg production, laying hens require physiological support for necessary nutrients. In this context, yolk fat accumulation is a critical physiological process. Lipoproteins, essential in avian lipid metabolism, are vital for yolk and body fat accumulation. Understanding these lipoproteins and their metabolism is key to developing healthier, more productive animals, offering economic benefits to farmers and improved nutritional quality to consumers. This review focuses on the physiological aspects of dietary fat transport, fatty acid biosynthesis in the liver, fat accumulation in the abdomen and muscles, and lipid deposition in egg yolks in chickens. It also highlights recent research trends in the regulation of fat metabolism in poultry.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.145-151
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• 1996

The origin and present status of research and commercial production of Korean Ogol chicken are reviewed. The Yeonsan Ogol chicken was designated as a National Monument (No.265) at April 1, 1980. After that, researches have been done on the various aspects of Ogol chicken, i.e., external characteristics, growth and reproductive performance, chemical composition of egg and meat, and carcass characteristics. In addition, several genetic parameters of Ogol chicken have been estimated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.91-95
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• 1992

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of broilers and layers fed locally produced fish waste meal (LFWM) in Western Samoa. LFWM, which was produced by mincing and oven drying of rejects from filleted fish, was included in both broiler and layer diets at the complete expense of imported meat and bone meal (MBM). The experiments were of a completely randomised design. In experiment 1, 120 day-old Strabro broiler chicks were raised to 49 days of ages. In experiment 2, 80 Shaver 288 pullets, 20 weeks of age, were housed in pairs in cages and raised up to 72 weeks of age. There were no differences (p > 0.05) in performance of broilers as measured in terms of final bodyweights, feed intake, feed efficiency and carcass yield between the two diets. Similarly, no differences (p > 0.05) existed in egg production, egg weight and feed required per kilogramme of eggs. It is concluded that LFWM is nutritionally as good as imported MBM and could be used to completely replace MBM in broiler and layer diets.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.1452-1462
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• 2024

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with Agaricus blazei polysaccharide (ABP) at varying concentrations on the performance, egg quality, blood biochemistry, intestinal morphology, and microflora of quail. Methods: The study involved a total of 2,700 Korean quails, which were randomly divided into three groups. The measured variables encompassed productive performance, egg parameters, carcass parameters, serum metabolites, immune response parameters, antioxidative properties, and gut microbiome. Results: The addition of ABP did not have a significant effect on average daily feed intake. However, it was found to increase the average daily egg weight and egg production rate, reduce the feed-egg ratio. There were no significant impacts on egg quality measures such as egg shape index, egg yolk index and color, egg yolk and protein content. However, ABP supplementation significantly increased the Hough unit (p<0.01) and decreased the rate of unqualified eggs (p<0.01). Regarding serum parameters, the inclusion led to an increase in total protein concentration (p<0.05) and a reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.05). There were no significant effects observed on immune indicators such as immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgM. ABP supplementation increased the levels of serum antioxidant indicators, including glutathione peroxidase, total superoxide dismutase (p<0.05), and total antioxidant capacity colorimeter (p<0.05). Furthermore, ABP supplementation significantly elevated the intramuscular fatty acid content in quail meat. Additionally, ABP supplementation demonstrated a significant improvement in the diversity of gut microbiota and induced alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that dietary supplementation of ABP enhanced production performance and antioxidant capacity while increasing the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids in quail muscle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1484-1489
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• 2006

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of high pressure and the addition of non-meat proteins on the physico-chemical and binding properties of restructured pork. Pressurizations were carried out at up to 200 MPa and non-meat proteins used as a binder were isolated soy protein (ISP), sodium caseinate (SC), whey protein concentrate (WPC) and egg white powder (EWP). The pH values of all treatments were affected by the level of pressure. $L^*$-value of all treatments increased significantly (p<0.05), while both $a^*$-value and $b^*$-value of all treatments showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) with increasing pressure level. Binders could contribute only additive effects on both pH and color of the treatments. It was found that high pressure improved the water binding capacities and binding strength of the treatments. Binders also improved the binding strength of restructured pork. However, SC and WPC had no effect on water binding properties under high pressure. These results indicate that the application of high pressure had more significant effect on restructuring meat than binders.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1653-1658
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• 2000

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) mRNA levels in the eyes, heart, liver and breast muscle removed from dwarf egg-type, normal egg-type and normal meat-type chicken embryos at 7, 14 and 20 days of incubation were measured. There was no influence of chicken strain on IGF-I gene expression in the eyes and liver. The IGF-I gene expression in eyes increased significantly along with the incubation period. In the liver, IGF-I gene expression at 20 days of incubation was significantly higher than that at 14 days of incubation. In the muscle, the lowest value for IGF-I gene expression was observed in meat-type chicken embryos. Regression analysis revealed that IGF-I gene expression was significantly correlated to the weights of the eyes and liver, but not the muscle. We conclude that there is little influence of strain on tissue IGF-I gene expression in chicken embryos during incubation but that tissue development in chicken embryos is nevertheless at least partly regulated by the change in IGF-I gene expression.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.571-578
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• 2017

This study aimed to determine the optimal ratio of natural calcium powders (oyster shell and egg shell calcium) as synthetic phosphate replacers in pork products. Ground pork samples were subjected to six treatments, as follows: control (-) (no phosphate added), control (+) (0.3% phosphate blend added), treatment 1 (0.5% oyster shell calcium powder added), treatment 2 (0.3% oyster shell calcium powder and 0.2% egg shell calcium powder added), treatment 3 (0.2% oyster shell calcium powder and 0.3% egg shell calcium powder added), and treatment 4 (0.5% egg shell calcium powder added). The addition of natural calcium powders resulted in an increase in the pH values of meat products, regardless of whether they were used individually or mixed. The highest cooking loss was observed (p<0.05) in the negative control samples, whereas the cooking loss in samples with natural calcium powder added was similar (p>0.05) to that in the positive control samples. CIE $L^*$ values decreased as the amount of added egg shell calcium powder increased. CIE $a^*$ values were higher (p<0.05) in samples containing natural calcium powder (treatments 1, 2, 3, and 4) than in the positive control. The combination of oyster shell calcium powder and egg shell powder (treatment 2 or 3) was effective for the improvement of textural properties of the pork products. The findings show that the combined use of 0.2% oyster shell calcium and 0.3% egg shell calcium should enable the replacement of synthetic phosphate in the production of cooked pork products with desirable qualities.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.946-951
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• 2010

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of blood meal (BM) as a source of histidine, and magnesium oxide (MgO) as a catalyst of carnosine synthetase, on carnosine (L-Car) content in the chicken breast muscle (CBM), laying performance, and egg quality of spent old hens. Four hundred eighty laying hens (Hy-Line$^{(R)}$ Brown), 95wk old, were allotted randomly into five replicates of six dietary treatments: T1; 100% basal diet, T2; 100% basal diet+MgO, T3; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM, T4; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM+MgO, T5; 95% basal diet+5% BM, T6; 95% basal diet+5% BM+MgO. Magnesium oxide was added at 0.3% of diets. The layers were fed experimental diets for 5wk. There were no significant differences in the weekly L-Car content in CBM among all treatments during the total experimental period, but some of the contrast comparisions showed higher L-Car in CBM of T6. The L-Car contents linearly decreased (p<0.01 or p<0.05) as the layers got older except in T4 (p>0.05). There were significant differences in egg weight (p<0.01) and soft and broken egg ratio (p<0.05). The control (T1) was highest in egg weight and T6 was lowest in soft and broken egg ratio. Among the parameters of egg quality, there were significant differences in eggshell strength (p<0.01) and egg yolk color (p<0.05). Magnesium oxide supplementation increased the eggshell strength and BM tended to decrease egg yolk color. Eggshell color, eggshell thickness, and Haugh unit were not influenced by BM and MgO. In conclusion, BM and MgO did not significantly influence the L-Car in CBM of spent layers. The L-Car content rapidly decreased as the layers became senescent. Eggshell strength was increased by MgO supplementation.