• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.429-435
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• 2016

Heritability estimates for daily gain (g), backfat thickness (mm), days to 90kg (day), loin eye depth (mm) and meat percent (%) were 0.40, 0.44, 0.40, 0.25 and 0.48, respectively. Estimates of correlation between breeding value and rank for meat productivity traits by model 1 and 2 were 0.995 1.000 and 0.991 1.000, respectively and highly significant (p< 0.0001), and they were almost identical to the breeding values estimated by different farms. When top 5% and top 10% animals were selected by meat productive traits at different farms, markedly different animals were selected by farms since the selected improvement traits in each farm maintaining closed herds were different. Therefore, it seems to be desirable that superior pigs should be selected after the establishment of evaluation system for genetic performance at national level using the integrated data obtained from various farms.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.869-879
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• 2016

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary formulated feed additive on growth performance and carcass traits of Hanwoo steers. A formulated feed additive reported to reduce heat load in the rumen in our previous research was used (Cho et al., 2014). Total 32 herds of Hanwoo steers were assigned into two groups of control and treatment. Total mixed ration was provided as basal diet for cattle and 100 g of additive was supplemented on diet for treatment. Feeding trial was performed during 120 days before slaughter. For growth performance, 3 periods (0~90 days; 90~120 days; 0~120 days) were allotted and average daily gain, feed requirement and final body weight were determined. Loin meat between $12^{th}$ and $13^{th}$ rib was used for meat quality analysis after slaughtering. Only $1^{st}$ period showed significantly improved growth performance of treatment (P<0.05) and there were no significant difference in other periods. At $3^{rd}$ periods (overall), a trend of increased average daily gain was found at treatment (P=0.075). Carcass performance and quality did not show significant differences between treatment and control (P>0.05). In meat quality, treatment showed significant increment in all measured meat colors (P<0.05) and significantly less sharing force compared to the control (P<0.05). Although no significant difference in growth performance and carcass yield were found, remarkably improved economic status was detected in treatment group. In conclusion, it could be suggested that application of a formulated feed additive specialized in reduction of heat load in the rumen was able to increase economical balance through enhancing heat stress condition of ruminant and growth.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.422-426
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• 2011

For a national survey in which wide geographic region or an entire country is targeted, multi-stage sampling approach is widely used to overcome the problem of simple random sampling, to consider both herd- and animallevel factors associated with disease occurrence, and to adjust clustering effect of disease in the population in the calculation of sample size. The aim of this study was to establish sample size for estimating bovine tuberculosis (TB) in Korea using stratified two-stage sampling design. The sample size was determined by taking into account the possible clustering of TB-infected animals on individual herds to increase the reliability of survey results. In this study, the country was stratified into nine provinces (administrative unit) and herd, the primary sampling unit, was considered as a cluster. For all analyses, design effect of 2, between-cluster prevalence of 50% to yield maximum sample size, and mean herd size of 65 were assumed due to lack of information available. Using a two-stage sampling scheme, the number of cattle sampled per herd was 65 cattle, regardless of confidence level, prevalence, and mean herd size examined. Number of clusters to be sampled at a 95% level of confidence was estimated to be 296, 74, 33, 19, 12, and 9 for desired precision of 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, and 0.06, respectively. Therefore, the total sample size with a 95% confidence level was 172,872, 43,218, 19,224, 10,818, 6,930, and 4,806 for desired precision ranging from 0.01 to 0.06. The sample size was increased with desired precision and design effect. In a situation where the number of cattle sampled per herd is fixed ranging from 5 to 40 with a 5-head interval, total sample size with a 95% confidence level was estimated to be 6,480, 10,080, 13,770, 17,280, 20.925, 24,570, 28,350, and 31,680, respectively. The percent increase in total sample size resulting from the use of intra-cluster correlation coefficient of 0.3 was 22.2, 32.1, 36.3, 39.6, 41.9, 42.9, 42,2, and 44.3%, respectively in comparison to the use of coefficient of 0.2.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.253-256
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• 2010

This study was performed to investigate the characteristics within ages and freezing tolerance of spermatozoa in Jindo Dog. Experimental animals were selected 12 herds within 1~8 year's old and collected semen for 2 times in a week. Collected semen was evaluated whole volume and sperm number with CASA system (SIAS, Medical Supply, Korea). Then seminal plasma were separated and diluted with modified Tris-egg yolk extender and added 4, 6 and 8% glycerol for 4 times to final concentration and equilibrated for 1.5 hrs. Before and after freezing, equilibrated semen were evaluated the survival rates. Total volume of sperm at 1~2 year old group is as $5.2{\times}10^8\;cells/ml$ largest and there were no significance among groups. The motility of 1~2 year old group is highest as 90.9% and there were significance among groups. Abnormal sperm showed similar among groups. The survival rate in terms of pre-freezing and post-freezing were decreased all levels of glycerol and reveled 87.0% to 64.5% in 4%, 87.5% to 51.9% in 6% and 73.4% to 29.7% in 8%, there were significant difference among the groups (p<0.05). These results suggest that the optimal sperm-freezing methods in Jindo Dog are utilized with modified Tris egg-yolk extender with 4% glycerol and were improve the reproductive activity by these methods.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2010

Toxoplasma gondii is a species of parasitic protozoa in the genus Toxoplasma. The definitive host of T. gondii is the cat, but the parasite can be carried by the vast majority of warm-blooded animals, including humans. It is often found in the tissues of food animals including pigs and sheep. To determine the regional prevalence of infection with T. gondii, bloods (n=300) from domestic pigs and tissues (n=200) from slaughter pigs in Gyeongnam province were tested using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of antibody and antigen. A total of 115 sero-positive pigs were identified for a prevalence rate of 38.3%. Of the 50 herds from domestic pigs tested, 34 had at least one sero-positive pig for a herd prevalence rate of 68.0%. Sero-positive rates of pigs in fattening farm were higher than that of pigs in breeding company. Sero-positive rates of sows were higher than that of growing pigs. Seasonally, sero-positive rates of pigs were highest in winter (80.0%) and lowest in spring (23.8%). According to farm size, sero-positive rates of pigs were higher in small size farms (${\leq}$2,000) than that of big size farms (>2,000). However, none of the bloods (n=300) from domestic pigs and tissues (n=200) from slaughter pigs were positive for T. gondii specific DNA by PCR.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of days open on subsequent reproductive performance following to estrus synchronization in the 114 lactating dairy cows. The animals were divided into two groups according to the time of estrus synchronization; viz, ${\leq}$ 85 days, and > 85 days postpartum, respectively. The estrus synchronization protocol consisted of insertion of a controlled internal drug release (CIDR) device containing 1.9 g progesterone with an injection of 250 ${\mu}g$ gonadorelin (Day 0), an injection of $PGF_2{\alpha}$ and removal of the device on Day 7, an injection of 250 ${\mu}g$ GnRH on Day 9, and TAI 17 h later. Pregnancy diagnosis was determined at 30 to 60 days after TAI using both ultrasonography and rectal palpation. The body condition score (BCS) gradually increased over the postpartum period. In estrus synchronized cows until 85 days, conception rate on first service, number of service per conception, interval from estrus synchronization to conception, and interval from calving to conception were not significantly different among two farms (P>0.05). In estrus synchronized cows after 85 days postpartum, conception rate on first service, number of service per conception and interval from calving to conception were significantly different ($P{\leq}0.05$) between herds A and B (26.8 vs 50.0%; $2.1{\pm}1.35$ vs $1.37{\pm}0.54$ times, $237.3{\pm}97.8$ vs $164.7{\pm}69.3$ days, respectively). In estrus synchronized cows after 85 days postpartum interval from estrus synchronization to conception was greater (P<0.01) in herd B than in herd A ($63.6{\pm}57.4$ vs $26.1{\pm}24.9$). These results indicate that the time of estrus synchronization for maximized the reproductive performance is before 85 days postpartum and feeding and management is important factor for high reproductive performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.747-753
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• 2001

In this study, the Italian milk recorded buffalo population from 1974 to 1996 was analysed with the purpose to estimate genetic and environmental variability and provide genetic parameters for the most important economic traits. High variability between herds was evident due to the poor knowledge of feeding requirements and husbandry technology in this species compared to cattle. Age at first calving was reduced by 57 days during the considered years following efforts made in better feeding and management from 1990; on the contrary, calving interval has increased by 17 days as a consequence of forcing buffaloes to calve in spring, in order to have the peak milk yield when milk is much better paid. Average milk yield increased by 1853 kg during these years, while lactation duration was reduced by 30 days. Season of calving has no effect on all traits. Calving order has a positive effect on milk yield especially because older cows produce more milk in shorter lactations. Heritability for the age at first calving and calving interval was 0.26 and 0.05 respectively. Heritability of productive traits, milk yield and duration of the lactation was 0.19 and 0.13 respectively, with repeatabilities of 0.40 and 0.26. Genetic trend for milk yield was 2.1 kg milk/year for the bulls and 1 kg for all population. The high genetic variability of milk production as well as duration of the lactation, indicates that there are good opportunities for genetic improvement when including these traits in a selection scheme. The low genetic trend registered over 15 years of recording activity can be explained by the fact that neither progeny testing was performed or selection schemes were implemented, due to the difficulties to use artificial insemination in buffalo.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1226-1234
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• 2015

The development of effective genetic evaluations and selection of sires requires accurate estimates of genetic parameters for all economically important traits in the breeding goal. The main objective of this study was to assess the relative performance of the traditional lactation average model (LAM) against the random regression test-day model (RRM) in the estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of breeding values for Holstein Friesian herds in Ethiopia. The data used consisted of 6,500 test-day (TD) records from 800 first-lactation Holstein Friesian cows that calved between 1997 and 2013. Co-variance components were estimated using the average information restricted maximum likelihood method under single trait animal model. The estimate of heritability for first-lactation milk yield was 0.30 from LAM whilst estimates from the RRM model ranged from 0.17 to 0.29 for the different stages of lactation. Genetic correlations between different TDs in first-lactation Holstein Friesian ranged from 0.37 to 0.99. The observed genetic correlation was less than unity between milk yields at different TDs, which indicated that the assumption of LAM may not be optimal for accurate evaluation of the genetic merit of animals. A close look at estimated breeding values from both models showed that RRM had higher standard deviation compared to LAM indicating that the TD model makes efficient utilization of TD information. Correlations of breeding values between models ranged from 0.90 to 0.96 for different group of sires and cows and marked re-rankings were observed in top sires and cows in moving from the traditional LAM to RRM evaluations.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.29-35
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• 2014

Purpose - The study aimed to evaluate the market opportunities and constraints confronting resource-poor pig farmers in South Africa. Research design, data, and methodology - Information was collected from 292 households in three municipalities through interviews with key informants. The data collected included socio-economic characteristics, major market channels, prices for different pig classes, average weight of the pigs on sale, number of pigs sold annually, and preferred meat quality attributes. Results - In Ngqushwa, 96% of respondents sold pigs as compared to Elundini (81%) and Ntabankulu (65%). Less resource-poor households and those with market-oriented production had large herdsizes (P < 0.05) when compared to more resource-poor farmers. The probability of selling pigs was high for the backyard production system and educated farmers. For all farmers, opportunities included high pork demand, good prices, employment creation, and a niche market for organically produced indigenous pork. Constraints include disease, feed shortages for large herds, distances to formal markets, lack of training, and drugs. Conclusions - Constraints outnumbered opportunities for the resource-poor pig farmers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1209-1216
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• 2005

This study aimed to use field data collected by the Hokkaido Dairy Cattle Milk Recording and Testing programs to estimate genetic parameters for concentration of milk urea nitrogen (MUN) and predicted Digestive Crude Protein Percentage of requirement (DCPun). Edited data consisted of 5,797,500 test-day records of MUN and yields of milk, fat, and protein obtained from 783,271cows in Holstein herds in Hokkaido, Japan. Data were divided into four datasets; for the first, second, third and fourth lactations. Two analyses were performed on data from each lactation. First, ANOVA was used to estimate the significance of the effects of several environmental factors on MUN and DCPun, after absorbing the Herd-Test-Day (HTD) effects. The effects of DIM and age.season effects had significant impact on MUN and DCPun. The second used a multi-traits repeatability model (MTRM) to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations of milk with MUN and DCPun. Heritability estimates for MUN and DCPun in the first, second, and third lactations were 0.21:0.16, 0.20:0.16, and 0.20:0.18, respectively. Genetic correlations for milk with MUN and DCPun in the first, second, and third lactations were 0.02 - 0.17, and -0.25 - -0.39, respectively. The results indicate that MUN and DCPun are possibly effective tools for improving the energy balance, but that the relationships between MUN and other economically important traits such as feed efficiency, metabolic disease and fertility are still necessary.