• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1369-1378
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• 2006

This is the first study in which genetic variability and relationships of a large number of Japanese chicken breeds were revealed along with those of several foreign breeds by using microsatellite DNA polymorphisms. Twenty-eight breeds (34 populations) of native Japanese chickens and seven foreign breeds or varieties were analyzed. The mean number of alleles per locus, the proportion of the polymorphic loci, and the expected average heterozygosity ranged from 1.75 to 4.70, from 0.55 to 1.00, and from 0.21 to 0.67, respectively. Microsatellite alleles being unique to a particular population were detected in some populations. The $D_A$ genetic distance between populations was obtained from allele frequency for every pair of the populations to construct a neighbor-joining tree. According to the phylogenetic tree, excluding a few exceptions, native Japanese chicken breeds and foreign breeds were clearly separated from each other. Furthermore, the tree topology divided native Japanese chickens into four main classes, which was almost in accordance with the classification based on body morphology; that is, (1) Cochin type, (2) Malay type, (3) layer type, and (4) intermediate type between Malay and layer types. This is the first finding for native Japanese chickens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.659-665
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• 2016

The effects of three different feeding systems on beef cattle production performance, rumen fermentation, and rumen digesta particle structure were investigated by using 18 Limousin (steers) with a similar body weight ($575{\pm}10kg$) in a 80-d experiment. The animals were equally and randomly divided into three treatment groups, namely, total mixed ration group (cattle fed TMR), SI1 group (cattle fed concentrate firstly then roughage), and SI2 group (cattle fed roughage firstly then concentrate). The results showed that the average daily gain was significantly higher in cattle receiving TMR than in those receiving SI1 and SI2 (p<0.05). Consumption per kg weight gain of concentrate, silage, and combined net energy (NEmf) were significantly decreased when cattle received TMR, unlike when they received SI1 and SI2 (p<0.05), indicating that the feed efficiency of TMR was the highest. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was significantly decreased when cattle received TMR compared with that in cattle receiving SI1 (p<0.05), whereas there was no difference compared with that in cattle receiving SI2. Ammonia nitrogen concentration was significantly lower in cattle receiving TMR than in those receiving SI1 and SI2 (p<0.05). The rumen area of cattle that received TMR was significantly larger than that of cattle receiving SI1 (p<0.05), but there was no difference compared with that of cattle receiving SI2. Although there was no significant difference among the three feeding systems in rumen digesta particle distribution, the TMR group trended to have fewer large- and medium-sized particles and more small-sized particles than those in the SI1 and SI2 groups. In conclusion, cattle with dietary TMR showed increased weight gain and ruminal development and decreased BUN. This indicated that TMR feeding was more conducive toward improving the production performance and rumen fermentation of beef cattle.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.491-498
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• 2010

Chemerin is a novel adipokine which is abundant in adipose tissue to promote adipocyte differentiation and with significant relativity to BMI and insulin sensitivity. We report here the molecular characterization of porcine chemerin and its receptors ChemR23 and GPR1, as well as their transcriptional regulation during lipogenesis. Chemerin was mainly expressed in liver, intestine, kidney and adipose tissue, consistent with the expression pattern of GPR1, but not ChemR23, which was predominantly present in spleen and temperately in adipose tissue. We further investigated the lipogenesis-related transcriptional activation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and KLF15 on chemerin and its receptors. The data showed that KLF15, but not $PPAR{\gamma}$, can up-regulate the mRNA level of chemerin, ChemR23 and GPR1, which was consistent with the results of luciferase assay that confirmed the effect of KLF15 on ChemR23 promoter. Taken together, our data provide basic molecular information for the further investigation on the function of chemerin in lipogenesis.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.2_spc
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• pp.339-349
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• 2023

Gene editing (GE) offers a new breeding technique (NBT) of sustainable value to animal agriculture. There are 3 GE working sites covering 5 feasible pathways to generate GE pigs along with the crucial intervals of GE/genotyping, microinjection/electroporation, induced pluripotent stem cells, somatic cell nuclear transfer, cryopreservation, and nonsurgical embryo transfer. The extension of NBT in the new era of pig breeding depends on the synergistic effect of GE and reproductive biotechnologies; the outcome relies not only on scientific due diligence and operational excellence but also on the feasibility of application on farms to improve sustainability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.905-909
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• 2001

Three groups of wethers viz. Jamunapari ♂$\times$Black Bengal ♀ (JBB), Selected Black Bengal ♂$\times$Selected Black Bengal ♀ (SBB) and Random Black Bengal ♂$\times$Random Black Bengal ♀ (RBB) of 1 year old were evaluated for pre-slaughter traits and carcass characteristics. The correlations between pre-slaughter traits and carcass traits were computed. It was found that the preslaughter weights of JBB and SBB were almost similar in yielding hot and chilled carcass as well as dressing percentage (DP). RBB wethers were lighter (p<0.05) than JBB and SBB in pre- and post-slaughter weights and also inferior (p<0.05) in DP. SBB wethers were found to produce more visceral fat compared to JBB and RBB. Other variety meats appeared erratic in yield.l. Correlations were compared by Z statistic among three genetic groups and the value of Z did not differ (p>0.05) between groups.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1425-1438
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• 2021

Maintaining a high level of beef consumption requires paying attention not only to quantitative traits but also to the quality and dietary properties of meat. Growing consumer demands do not leave producers many options for how animals are selected for breeding and animal keeping. Meat and carcass fatness quality traits, which are influenced by multiple genes, are economically important in beef cattle breeding programs. The recent availability of genome sequencing methods and many previously identified molecular markers offer new opportunities for animal breeding, including the use of molecular information in selection programs. Many gene polymorphisms have thus far been analyzed and evaluated as potential candidates for molecular markers of meat quality traits. Knowledge of these markers can be further applied to breeding programs through marker-assisted selection. In this literature review, we discuss the most promising and well-described candidates and their associations with selected beef production traits.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.466-469
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• 2002

The data on 512 Hariana cows, progeny of 20 sires calved during period from 1974 to 1993 maintained at Government Livestock Farm, Hisar were considered for the estimation of genetic parameters. The means for first lactation milk yield (FLY), wet average (WA), first lactation peak yield (FPY), first lactation milk yield per day of first calving interval (MCI) and first lactation milk yield per day of age at second calving (MSC) were 1,141.58 kg, 4.19 kg/day, 6.24 kg/day, 2.38 kg/day and 0.601 kg/day, respectively. The effect of period of calving was significant (p<0.05) on WA, FPY and MCI while the effect of season of calving was significant only on WA. Monsoon calvers excelled in performance for all the production efficiency traits. The effect of age at first calving (linear) was significant on all the traits except on MCI. Estimates of heritabilty for all the traits were moderate and ranged from 0.255 to 0.333 except for WA (0.161). All the genetic and phenotypic correlations among different production efficiency traits were high and positive. It may be inferred that selection on the basis of peak yield will be more effective as the trait is expressed early in life and had reasonably moderate estimate of heritability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.320-324
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• 2003

The objective of this study was to localize QTL affecting meat quality in a pig family of three generations. All animals were genotyped for twenty-four microsatellites on SSC3 (Sus scrofa chromosome 3), SSC4 and SSC7. One hundred and forty $F_2$ offsprings were scored for eleven meat quality traits. Least square regression interval mapping revealed quantitative trait loci (QTL) effect for meat pH (m. Semipinalis Capitis, SC) on SSC4 and SSC7; for moisture (m. Longissimus Dorsi, LD) on SSC3. Furthermore, there was suggestive evidence for a QTL on SSC4 affecting intramuscular fat (IMF) content that nearly approached the chromosomewise (p=0.05) significance threshold.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.321-325
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• 2002

Karyotype analysis was carried out on blood samples of 30 water buffaloes belonging to different breed groups (i.e. Philippine Carabao (PC), Indian Murrah (IM), Bulgarian Murrah (BM), "$F_1$ 50% IM-50% PC", "$F_1$ 50% BM-50% PC" and "75% IM-25% PC"), using the modified Leucocyte Culture Technique. The modal chromosome numbers of the PC, "$F_1$ 50% IM-50% PC", "$F_1$ 50% BM-50% PC", IM, BM and "75% IM-25% PC" were 2n=48, 49, 49, 50, 50 and 50, respectively. The water buffalo chromosomes are mostly acrocentric (79.67%) and the remainder submetacentric (20.33%). Results of the ordinary least square analysis showed significant breed effects (p<0.01) on other karyotypic characteristics (i.e. relative length, arm ratio and centromeric index). Significant correlation between karyotypic characteristics and some animal performance traits were also found. The significant correlation values imply that karyotypic characteristics can be used as important criteria to select potentially productive young water buffaloes. In the future, more production and reproduction traits from non-institutional herds should be included in the analysis to reveal meaningful correlations with various karyotypic characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1667-1673
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to estimate economic weights of Hanwoo carcass traits that can be used to build economic selection indexes for selection of seedstocks. Data from carcass measures for determining beef yield and quality grades were collected and provided by the Korean Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation (KAPE). Out of 1,556,971 records, 476,430 records collected from 13 abattoirs from 2008 to 2010 after deletion of outlying observations were used to estimate relative economic weights of bid price per kg carcass weight on cold carcass weight (CW), eye muscle area (EMA), backfat thickness (BF) and marbling score (MS) and the phenotypic relationships among component traits. Price of carcass tended to increase linearly as yield grades or quality grades, in marginal or in combination, increased. Partial regression coefficients for MS, EMA, BF, and for CW in original scales were +948.5 won/score, +27.3 $won/cm^2$, -95.2 won/mm and +7.3 won/kg when all three sex categories were taken into account. Among four grade determining traits, relative economic weight of MS was the greatest. Variations in partial regression coefficients by sex categories were great but the trends in relative weights for each carcass measures were similar. Relative economic weights of four traits in integer values when standardized measures were fit into covariance model were +4:+1:-1:+1 for MS:EMA:BF:CW. Further research is required to account for the cost of production per unit carcass weight or per unit production under different economic situations.