• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2013

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of the decreased carcass grade due to overweight on meat quality traits of the loin and belly. Out of 500 carcasses from 85- to 150-kg market pigs, seven average-size $1^+A$ carcasses, seven 1A and twelve 1B carcasses almost weighing the upper limits allowed for the A (95 kg) and B (99 kg) grades, respectively, and 12 1B carcasses weighing 100 kg or greater were selected for the present study. Marbling score was greater in the $1^+A$ grade than in any other grade, whereas color and textural properties of the muscle and fat of the carcass did not differ among the four carcass grades. Physicochemical characteristics of the loin including the color, pH, chemical composition, and others pertaining to the textural properties changed minimally with decreasing carcass grade. Off-odor of the fresh loin and belly was not influenced by the carcass grade whereas dripping was lowest in the $1^+A$ grade; color and marbling were not influenced or minimally influenced by the carcass grade. Overall acceptability of the fresh primals, however, did not differ among the carcass grades. In cooked loin and belly, a trend of decreased taste and acceptability with decreasing carcass grade was evident, albeitat a low slope, with a significant difference detected between $1^+A$ and 2C grades. In conclusion, the decreased pig carcass grade due to overweight is accompanied by a slightly decreased meat quality, suggesting that the yield grade of pig carcass is also somewhat reflective of meat quality.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2000

To improve the pig farm management and efficiency of swine industry by inducing the farrowing to day-time from night, In the first experiment, reproduction records of purebred and crossbred pigs were collected and analyzed to estimate the $\varepsilon$ ffec 잉 of factors affecting day and night farrowing. The general linear model was used to estimate the least square means of the factors affecting various reproductive characteristics. And also, chi-square tests were used to examine the independence of the reproductive traits and environmental factors using the SAS (1992). The comparisons between pure and crossbred pigs for total number born, percentage of number born alive, gestation length, time length for farrowing were determined. The results indicated that the gestation length of crossbred (115.11 d) was slightly longer than that of purebred (114.89 d, p＜0.05). For the seasonal effects on total number born, the largest was found in spring and no differences were found among summer, fall and winter. The average gestation length was 1 day longer in spring and winter than in summer and fall. The total number born and number born alive were smaller in first, second, and greater or equal to sixth parity than other parities. And also, the percentage of no. born alive was least in greater or equal to sixth parity. For the effect of mating methods, natural and artificial insemination, on total number born and number born alive, no differences between the two methods were found. However, the percentage of number born alive for natural mating was 98.06% and was higher than artificial insemination(93.75%). The time length for farrowing was I hour were found for the 6 hrs of farrowing time. In general situation of pig farms, day-time farrowing was 34.8% and night farrowing was 65.2%, indicating that night farrowing was almost double of the night farrowing.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.243-247
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• 2016

Growth traits, such as body weight, directly influence productivity and economic efficiency in the swine industry. In this study, we estimate heritability for body weight traits usinginformation from pedigree and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip data. Four body weight phenotypes were measured in 1,105 $F_2$ progeny from an intercross between Landrace and Jeju native black pigs. All experimental animals were subjected to genotypic analysis using PorcineSNP60K BeadChip platform, and 39,992 autosomal SNP markers filtered by quality control criteria were used to construct genomic relationship matrix for heritability estimation. Restricted maximum likelihood estimates of heritability were obtained using both genomic- and pedigree- relationship matrix in a linear mixed model. The heritability estimates using SNP information were smaller (0.36-0.55) than those which were estimated using pedigree information (0.62-0.97). To investigate effect of common environment, such as maternal effect, on heritability estimation, we included maternal effect as an additional random effect term in the linear mixed model analysis. We detected substantial proportions of phenotypic variance components were explained by maternal effect. And the heritability estimates using both pedigree and SNP information were decreased. Therefore, heritability estimates must be interpreted cautiously when there are obvious common environmental variance components.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.515-524
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• 2001

Two experiments using growing and finishing pigs (Landrace$\times$Duroc$\times$Yorkshire) were conducted to determine the effects of different levels of vitamins and trace minerals (VTM) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass characteristics and meat quality of growing-finishing pigs, and to evaluate the suitability of vitamin-mineral levels commonly used in the swine industry in Korea. A total of 120 three crossbred (Landrace$\times$Duroc$\times$Yorkshire) growing (Experiment I: 20.90 0.44 kg average initial body weight) and finishing (Experiment II: 53.55 0.97 kg average initial body weight) were used in 6 and 9 weeks feeding trials, respectively. Pigs were allotted on the basis of sex and weight to 5 treatments with 6 replications per treatment with 4 pigs per pen in a completely randomized block design. Treatments were: 1) control, 2) fat soluble vitamin 200% vs. control, 3) water soluble vitamin 200% vs. control, 4) trace mineral 50% vs. control, 5) trace mineral 200% vs. control. In experiment I, during the overall experimental period (0 to 6 weeks, 21 to 54 kg body weight), ADG of the 200% trace mineral supplemented group was significantly higher than that of the 50% trace mineral supplemented group. There were no significant differences among other the treatments. Digestibility of crude protein was lowest in mineral 50% supplemented group (p<0.05). Calcium digestibility was significantly higher in the 200% fat soluble vitamin supplemented group than in the other treatments (p<0.05). In experiment II, during the overall experimental period (0 to 9 weeks, 54 to 106 kg body weight), growth performance was not significantly affected by dietary vitamin and trace mineral levels. However, increasing level of water soluble vitamins at the level of 200% compared to control had a tendency to improve the overall growth performance. Overall carcass characteristics except for carcass length did not differ among pigs fed the dietary treatments. Loin eye area, pH, drip loss and shear force of meat were not affected by dietary vitamin and trace mineral levels. There was a trend for less fat content (%) in pork when the level of vitamin and trace mineral was increased, but the difference was not significant. Flavor score was the lowest in control and highest in the 200% fat soluble vitamin supplemented group (p<0.05). Juiciness of muscle was lower in the 200% fat soluble vitamin supplemented group than other dietary treatments, except for trace mineral 50% supplemented group (p<0.05). Based on these results, it is suggested that "typical" commercial levels of vitamin and trace minerals used by feed companies in Korea are sufficient to meet requirement for the maximum growth of growing-finishing pigs. Our results suggests that a reduction in trace mineral levels in commercial diets could be considered to reduce feed cost and nutrient excretion with economic and environmental benefits.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.283-288
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• 2017

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a notorious and ubiquitous virus in the swine industry. The susceptibility of the host to PCV2 infection is considered to be one factor associated with the dynamics of PCV2. The objective of this study was to verify the criteria for host susceptibility to PCV2, using blood parameters of post-weaned pigs naturally infected with the virus. The PCV2 DNA viral load, antibody titer, and leukopenia characteristics were measured in the serum extracted from the pigs at the 10th week. We classified the pigs into high (>5.0), intermediate (3.0 to 5.0), and low (<3.0) groups on the basis of the PCV2 viral load (log copies/ml), or as positive (${\leq}0.50$) and negative (>0.50) groups on the basis of antibody titer (sample-to-negative corrected ratio). Moreover, using these two categorized parameters, we suggested the criteria for classification into the susceptible and resistant groups. Statistical analyses revealed that pigs in the susceptible group had a significantly higher viral load (p<0.001) and negative antibody titer (p<0.001), as well as significantly lower leukocyte counts (p=0.018) and lower amounts of several leukocyte components (p<0.05), than pigs in the resistant group. We concluded that the susceptible group could be considered to have PCV2-induced leukopenia. Therefore, we suggest that the combined classifications of viral loads and anti-PCV2 antibodies can be used to determine PCV2-induced leukopenia in the subclinical PCV2 infection of post-weaned pig populations.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.487-495
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• 2007

The objectives of the present study were to initiate cloning of Korean native goat by somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) and to examine whether unovulated (follicular) oocytes can support the same developmental ability of NT embryos as ovulated (oviductal) oocytes after hCG injection in stimulated cycles of the goat. The in vivo-matured and immature oocytes were collected from the oviducts and follicles of superovulated does, respectively, and the immature oocytes were maturated in vitro. Ear skin fibroblasts derived from a 3-yr-old female Korean native goat were used as the donors of nuclei or karyoplasts. Following fusion, activation and in vitro culture to a 2- to 4-cell stage, 49 in vitro-derived and 105 in vivo-derived embryos were transferred to 6 and 17 recipient does, respectively. One doe and three does of the respective groups were identified as pregnant by ultrasonography on day 30 after embryo transfer. However, only one doe, which had received in vivo-derived embryos, delivered a normal female kid of 1.9 kg on d 149. The cloned kid gained more weight than her age-matched females as much as 87% during the first 4 mo after birth (17.7 vs. $9.4{\pm}0.8$ kg) and reached puberty at 6-mo age a few months earlier than normal female does. The telomere length of the kid, which was similar to that of the donor fibroblast at 2-mo age, decreased 8% between 2- and 7-mo ages. Moreover, at 7-mo age, she had 21% shorter telomere than her age-matched goats. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which a cloned animal born with a normal weight exhibited accelerated growth and development. The unusually rapid growth and development of the cloned goat may have resulted from SCNT-associated epigenetic reprogramming involving telomere shortening.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1417-1425
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• 2014

The selection of morphologically normal spermatozoa is critical to obtain high breeding performances in boar breeding farms and artificial insemination (AI) centers. Parameters for the selection of semen mainly include total sperm motility, concentration, and morphology. However, these primary parameters are often not reliable for discriminating between normal and abnormal, non-fertilizable spermatozoa. The present study was designed to compare the motion characteristics, fertilization ability using in vitro fertilization (IVF), and acrosome formation of the semen from boars having low (boar number 2012) and normal (boar number 2004 and 2023) breeding performances. The ultimate goal was to identify additional simple and easy criteria for the selection of normal sperm. There was no significant difference between boar 2004 and boar 2023 sperm total motility in computer assisted sperm analysis. However, boar number 2012 semen presented a significantly reduced population of rapid moving spermatozoa and an increased population of slow moving spermatozoa compared to boar numbers 2004 and 2023. Analysis of detailed motion characteristics revealed that sperm from boar number 2012 had significantly reduced motility in progressiveness, average path velocity, straight-line velocity (VSL), curvilinear velocity (VCL), straightness, and linearity. The assessment of the fertilizing ability by IVF also showed that sperm from boar number 2012 showed a fertility rate of 3.4%, whereas sperm from boar number 2023 had a fertility rate of 75.45%. Interestingly, most of the sperm nuclei were found on the peripheral area of the oocytes, suggesting that the sperm from boar number 2012 lacked penetration ability into the oocyte zonapellucida. The acrosome formation analysis using Pisum sativum agglutinin staining demonstrated that the sperm from boar number 2012 had a defect in acrosome formation. Consequently, primary parameters for selecting semen before AI such as motility are not sufficient to select normal and fertilizable spermatozoa. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the acrosome staining and detailed motion characteristics such as progressiveness, VCL, and VSL should be included in determining semen quality together with primary parameters for successful AI and high breeding performance in the swine industry.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.289-296
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• 2011

Swine industry in Korea plays an important role in providing the meat for domestic consumption, and the number of pigs in Korea was about 9.72 million heads as of June, 2010. Meat quality is used to describe any traits which impact the consumer acceptability of fresh meat products. Meat color, firmness, water holding capacity, ultimate muscle $pH_{24h}$ (measured 24 hours post-mortem), shear force, and intramuscular fat percentage (IMF) are generally accepted as important indicators of meat quality and ultimately, consumer acceptance of fresh pork. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for meat quality traits in Berkshire pigs. The heritability estimates for muscle $pH_{24h}$, lightness (CIE $L^*$), NPPC marbling were 0.61, 0.56 and 0.57, respectively, The heritability estimates for drip loss, cooking loss, shear force were 0.51, 0.66 and 0.56, respectively. The phenotypic correlations between $pH_{24h}$ and lightness (CIE $L^*$), drip loss, cooking loss were negative, ranging from -.45 ~ -.13. The genetic correlations between muscle $pH_{24h}$ and lightness (CIE $L^*$), drip loss were negative, ranging from -.35 ~ -.32. Genetic parameters obtained herein indicate that genetic improvement of muscle $pH_{24h}$ is not related to the NPPC marbling of meat, but rather to improved lightness(CIE $L^*$) and drip loss. Genetic trends of meat quality traits showed increased muscle $pH_{24h}$ and decreased cooking loss and drip loss.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.337-342
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• 2006

A total of 120 pigs (Berkshire) were used to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with artificial culture medium of wild ginseng (CWG) on the physico-chemical characteristics of pork About $60{\pm}3kg$ pigs were randomly assigned to 4 pens based on sex and diet (C: commercial diet feed or T: commercial diet+1 L CWG per day for 70 days). Pigs were slaughtered at approximately 110 kg live weight, and proximate composition and physico-chemical characteristics were measured in pork loin. The moisture content, hardness and chewiness of pork were higher in gilt fed CWG than in gilt fed the control diet, but the water-holding capacity of pork and $L^*$ values of fat color were lower. The shear force and $a^*$ values of pork were higher in barrow fed CWG than in harrow fed the control diet. The crude fat content, hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness of pork and $a^*\;and\;b^*$ values of fat color were lower in barrow than in gilt, but the pH was higher. These results imply that the proximate composition and physico-chemical characteristics of pork could be affected by dietary supplementation with CWG and the sex of the pig, while the texture properties and at values of pork may be improved with dietary CWG.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.349-355
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• 2006

A total of 120 pigs (Berkshire) were used to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with artificial culture medium ot wild ginseng (CMWG) on the fatty acid composition, amino acid composition and sensory characteristics or pork About $60{\pm}3kg$ pigs were randomly assigned to one of four experimental diet groups[(both sexes)${\times}$(C: commercial diet feed; T: commercial diet+1 L CMWG per day for 70 days)]. Pigs were slaughtered at approximately 110 kg live weight, and fatty acid composition, amino acid composition and sensory characteristics were measured in pork loin. The monounsaturated and saturated fatty acid contents was greater in barrow fed a diet containing CMWG than those of the gilt pork and control groups, however the polyunsaturated fatty acid composition decreased. The EAA (essential amino acid) content was lower in pigs fed diets containing CMWG than that of the control groups, whereas the SAA (amino acid with sulfide) and FRAA (fragrant amino acid) contents were higher. The EAA and FAA (amino acid in relation to flavor) contents were lower for harrow than for gilt, however the SAAA (amino acid in relation to saccarinity), SAA and FRAA the contents were higher. Regarding the sensory evaluation of fresh meat, the color of gilt pork increased with diets containing CMWG relative to the control group. Drip loss and the marbling score for pigs fed with diets containing CMWG were higher in barrow than in gilt. The flavor and overall acceptability of cooked meat from the control group was higher for barrow than for silt.