• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.1033-1037
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• 2008

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of chromium picolinate (CrPic) on growth hormone (GH) secretion and pituitary GH mRNA expression in finishing pigs. Forty eight crossbred pigs with an initial body weight of 65.57 kg (SD = 1.05) were blocked by body weight and randomly assigned to two treatments with three replicates. Each group was fed the diet supplemented with or without $200{\mu}g/kg$ chromium from CrPic for 40 days. The results showed that average daily gain of pigs was increased by 9.84% (p<0.05), and longissimus muscle area was increased by 17.29% (p<0.05) with the supplementation of CrPic. The results of GH dynamic secretion showed that supplemental CrPic increased the mean level and peak value of GH by 36.58% (p<0.05) and 26.60% (p<0.05), respectively, while there was no significant effect on basal value, peak amplitude and peak duration. Pituitary mRNA expression of GH was not significantly influenced by supplemental CrPic. These results indicated that CrPic increased pigs GH secretion without change of pituitary GH mRNA expression.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the bacterial capability to accumulate phosphorus during liquid composting process of pig slurry. Storage liquid compost and pig slurry were analyzed by using MALDI-TOF technique, which showed the colonies of Acinetobacter towneri and Bacillus licheniformis. In addition, bacterial colonies were isolated under high phosphoric acid conditions using X-phosphate MOPS medium with the addition of 2 mM $K_2HPO_4$. Microbial growth was observed in high and low phosphoric conditions due to the growth of bacterial diversities in the liquid fertilizer and slurry. The colonies isolated in the high phosphoric acid medium were uncultured bacterium clone and Acinetobacter sp. were identified by analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Uncultured bacterium showed higher growth rate and excellent phosphorus ability then Acinetobacter sp.. In addition to Paenibacillus sp. AEY-1 isolated from pig slurry performed excellent phosphorus utilizing capability.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1109-1120
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• 2022

Antibiotics used to be supplemented to animal feeds as growth promoter and as an effective strategy to reduce the burden of pathogenic bacteria present in the gastro-intestinal tract. However, in-feed antibiotics also kill bacteria that may be beneficial to the animal. Secondly, unrestricted use of antibiotics enhanced the antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. To overcome above problems, scientists are taking a great deal of measures to develop alternatives of antibiotics. There is convincing evidence that probiotics could replace in-feed antibiotics in poultry production. Because they have beneficial effects on growth performance, meat quality, bone health and eggshell quality in poultry. Better immune responses, healthier intestinal microflora and morphology which help the birds to resist against disease attack were also identified with the supplementation of probiotics. Probiotics establish cross-feeding between different bacterial strains of gut ecosystem and reduce the blood cholesterol level via bile salt hydrolase activity. The action mode of probiotics was also updated according to recently published literatures, i.e antimicrobial substances generation or toxin reduction. This comprehensive review of probiotics is aimed to highlight the beneficial effects of probiotics as a potential alternative strategy to replace the antibiotics in poultry.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.506-515
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• 2021

Objective: Initial consequence of inbreeding is inbreeding depression which impairs the performance of growth, production, health, fertility and survival traits in different animal breeds and populations. The effect of inbreeding on economically important traits should be accurately estimated. The effect of inbreeding depression on growth traits in sheep has been reported in many breeds. Based on this, the main objective of the present research was to evaluate the impact of inbreeding on some growth traits of Iranian Baluchi sheep breed using quantile regression model. Methods: Pedigree and growth traits records of 13,633 Baluchi lambs born from year 1989 to 2016 were used in this research. The traits were birth weight, weaning weight, six-month weight, nine-month weight, and yearling weight. The contribution, inbreeding and co-ancestry software was used to calculate the pedigree statistics and inbreeding coefficients. To evaluate the impact of inbreeding on different quantiles of each growth trait, a series of quantile regression models were fitted using QUANTREG procedure of SAS software. Annual trend of inbreeding was also estimated fitting a simple linear regression of lamb's inbreeding coefficient on the birth year. Results: Average inbreeding coefficient of the population was 1.63 percent. Annual increase rate of inbreeding of the flock was 0.11 percent (p<0.01). The results showed that the effect of inbreeding in different quantiles of growth traits is not similar. Also, inbreeding affected differently on growth traits, considering lambs' sex and type of birth. Conclusion: Quantile regression revealed that inbreeding did not have similar effect on different quantiles of growth traits in Iranian Baluchi lambs indicating that at a given age and inbreeding coefficient, lambs with different sex and birth type were not equally influenced by inbreeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.268-271
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• 1998

Twenty crossbred calves of $88{\pm}5.5kg$ initial live weight and 3-4 month of age were divided into two groups and fed wheat straw and concentrate to support a 500 g daily gain in body weight. Calves in the experimental group (YC) were given a daily dose of 10 ml yeast cell suspension (YC) containing live cells $(5{\times}10^9 cells/ml)$ of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ITCCF 2094. After a growth study of 122 days metabolism trials were conducted. The calves in the YC group recorded a daily weigt gain of $492{\pm}27.8g$ as compared to $476{\pm}20.1g$ in control group. There were no significant differences in feed intake, nutrient digestibility, feed/gain ratio and nitrogen retention between the YC supplemented and control groups.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.750-756
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• 2010

Two trials were conducted to study the effects of two Chinese herbal polysaccharides, Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) and Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharides (ABPS), and one Chinese herbal saponin, Acantbepanax senticosus saponin (ASS), on the immunity and growth performance of weaned pigs. Experiment 1 was a 14-day growth assay, in which 32 weaned pigs were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments: i) 0.05% talcum powder control; ii) 0.05% APS; iii) 0.05% mixture of APS and ASS in a 1:1 ratio by weight; and iv) 0.05% mixture of APS, ASS, and ABPS in a ratio of 1:1:1 by weight. Blood samples were collected on day 14 to determine plasma parameters. Feed intake, body weight gain, and feed efficiency were also determined. Experiment 2 was a 21-day immunity assay, in which 16 weaned pigs were randomly allotted to one of two dietary treatments: i) 0.05% talcum powder control; and ii) 0.05% mixture of APS and ASS in a 1:1 ratio by weight. On day 21, pigs were challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 3 h later blood samples were collected and analyzed for lymphocyte proliferation as well as interleukin 6 (IL-6), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), growth hormone (GH), and cortisol levels. In Experiment 1, feeding Chinese herbal polysaccharides and saponin increased growth performance of the pigs. The effects of the mixture of APS and ASS were especially notable, as there was a significant improvement in growth performance compared with the control (p<0.05). The plasma concentration of immunoglobulin G (IgG), nitric oxide (NO), and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were increased in all treatments groups, with the mixture of APS and ASS increasing the level of IgG and NOS significantly (p<0.05), compared with the control. There was no difference in the NO level between the control and treatment groups (p>0.05). In Experiment 2, Chinese herbal polysaccharides and saponin showed immunostimulating effects. The level of cortisol, GH, and IGF-I were significantly increased (p>0.05), and the level of IL-6 showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the APS and ASS treatment after the LPS challenge. The mixture of APS and ASS could stimulate the blood lymphocyte proliferation significantly whether the LPS was injected or not (p<0.05). These results show that Chinese herbal extracts can improve growth performance and stimulate immunity of weaned pigs. A mixture of APS and ASS, compared with APS alone, could be a new kind of immunostimulant for weaned pigs, which could result in greater positive effects on their growth performance and immunity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2018

Objective: This study estimated the genetic parameters for body weight gain and growth curve parameter traits in Korean native chicken (KNC). Methods: A total of 585 $F_1$ chickens were used along with 88 of their $F_0$ birds. Body weights were measured every 2 weeks from hatching to 20 weeks of age to measure weight gain at 2-week intervals. For each individual, a logistic growth curve model was fitted to the longitudinal growth dataset to obtain three growth curve parameters (${\alpha}$, asymptotic final body weight; ${\beta}$, inflection point; and ${\gamma}$, constant scale that was proportional to the overall growth rate). Genetic parameters were estimated based on the linear-mixed model using a restricted maximum likelihood method. Results: Heritability estimates of body weight gain traits were low to high (0.057 to 0.458). Heritability estimates for ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$, and ${\gamma}$ were $0.211{\pm}0.08$, $0.249{\pm}0.09$, and $0.095{\pm}0.06$, respectively. Both genetic and phenotypic correlations between weight gain traits ranged from -0.527 to 0.993. Genetic and phenotypic correlation between the growth curve parameters and weight gain traits ranged from -0.968 to 0.987. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study population, we suggest that the KNC could be used for selective breeding between 6 and 8 weeks of age to enhance the overall genetic improvement of growth traits. After validation of these results in independent studies, these findings will be useful for further optimization of breeding programs for KNC.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.84-88
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• 1998

The aim of this study was to describe growth patterns of mice using Gompertz model. Two distinct types of mice, laboratory mouse $CF_{\sharp1}$ (Mus musculus domesticus) and Yonakuni wild mouse (Yk, Mus musculus molossinus yonakuni) were used. From all possible crosses, there were two parental types and two reciprocal $F_1$ crosses obtained. Individual body weights were measured weekly from birth to ten weeks of age on 321 mice. Standardization to six mice was conducted and only first litters were used. Growth curve parameters were estimated to fit growth data. The results showed that growth among genetic groups were significantly different (p < 0.05) for both sexes, in which parental type of $CF_{\sharp1}$ and Yk had the highest and the smallest values, respectively. Meanwhile, reciprocal $F_1$ crosses were intermediate between parental types. It was concluded that Gompertz model provided and excellent fit for the growth data with a high coefficient determination $(R^2 = 0.999)$.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2006

A 2,656 bp fragment of chicken ghrelin gene was cloned and SNPs were detected by PCR-RFLP and Allele Specific PCR (ASP) in 12 Chinese indigenous chicken breeds and a commercial chicken population. The results showed that there were 23 base variations and an amino acid change ($Gln{\rightarrow}Arg$) in cloned chicken ghrelin gene. Three SNPs were confirmed in 13 populations and associations between this gene and growth traits of Tibetan chicken (TC) and Recessive White chicken (RW) were investigated. The results of haplotype analysis revealed that 26 haplotype genotypes were composed of eight haplotypes. The results of $x^2$ tests indicated that there were significant differences between genotypes or haplotype genotype frequencies in some of the breeds or sexes at 0.05 or 0.01 levels. The results of ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences between genotypes or haplotype genotypes on some growth traits of TC and RW chicken breeds at 0.05 or 0.01 levels. Multiple comparisons showed that there were significant associations between genotype CT at site 71 and some growth traits of two chicken breeds and between genotype AG at site 1,215 and body weight at 16 wk of two chicken breeds, and there was a significant association between haplotype genotype CAA/CAG and body weight and shank girth at 16 wk of two chicken breeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1465-1470
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• 2015

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of L-carnosine (LC) and/or alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation on growth performance, blood thyroid hormones and lipid profiles in finishing pigs. A total of 40 ($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$) pigs with an initial body weight of $57.93{\pm}3.14kg$ were randomly allocated to 4 experimental diets using a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement with 2 LC supplemental levels (0 or 0.1%) and 2 ALA supplemental levels (0 or 0.03%) in basal diets. The results showed that pigs fed LC-supplemented diets increased final live weight, average daily gain, and average daily feed intake compared to those of pigs fed without LC-supplemented diets (p<0.05). Dietary supplementation with ALA did not affect the growth performance and carcass traits of pigs (p>0.05). Additionally, LC supplementation increased serum triiodothyronine, thyroxine levels, and ALA supplementation increased serum triiodothyronine levels (p<0.05). Serum total cholesterol and triglycerides levels were significantly decreased in LC and ALA supplemented groups, respectively (p<0.05). Moreover, serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were lower in the ALA-supplemented groups than those of pigs fed without ALA-supplemented diets (p<0.05). However, no significant $LC{\times}ALA$ interaction effect on growth performance, blood thyroid hormones and lipid profiles was found. This study suggested that dietary supplementation of LC resulted in better growth performance compared to that of ALA supplementation. L-carnosine and/or ALA supplementation positively modified blood lipid profiles, which may have the potential to prevent cardiovascular diseases.