• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.275-282
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• 2020

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of the difference in energy concentration in diets on performance and nutrient digestibility of growing-finishing pigs. The experimental diets were as follows: 1) a normal energy level corn-soybean meal-based diet (CON) and 2) high-energy diet compared with the CON (HE). Pigs had free access to their feed and water ad labium for 6 weeks during each experimental period. In experiment 1, 60 growing pigs (initial body weight [BW] of 23.85 kg) were randomly allotted to 2 treatment groups with 5 replications (6 pigs·pen^-1). In experiment 2, 48 finishing pigs (initial BW = 65.13 kg) were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups with 6 replications (4 pigs·pen^-1). The growth performance was measured at the beginning and end of each period. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) was determined by chromium oxide as an indigestible marker during the last 7 days of each experiment. In experiment 1, the dietary treatments did not affect the growth performance and ATTD of energy and nutrients. In experiment 2, no differences in growth performance were observed for pigs fed CON and HE throughout the experimental period. Additionally, dietary treatments did not affect the ATTD. In conclusion, the high energy content in diets for the growing-finishing period had no effect on the growth performance or digestibility, indicating that a wide range of energy content changes in diets would be required to affect the performance and digestibility of grower-finisher pigs. It is also necessary to understand the characteristics of components used to adjust the dietary energy concentration.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1839-1848
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative effects of dietary functional nutrients including glutamine (Gln), chromium picolinate (Cr picolinate), vitamin C (Vit C), betaine (Bet), and taurine (Tau) on growth performance, meat quality, immune responses, and stress biomarkers in broiler chickens raised under heat stress conditions. Methods: A total of 420 21-d-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens (initial body weight = 866±61.9 g) were randomly allotted to 1 of 7 treatment groups with 6 replicates. One group was kept under thermoneutral conditions and was fed a basal diet (PC, positive control). Other 6 groups were exposed to a cyclic heat stress condition. One of the 6 groups was fed the basal diet (NC, negative control), whereas 5 other groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.5% Gln, 500 ppb Cr picolinate, 250 mg/kg Vit C, 0.2% Bet, or 1.0% Tau. The diets and water were provided ad libitum for 21 d. Results: Broiler chickens in NC group had decreased (p<0.05) growth performance and immune responses measured based on cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity (CBH), but increased (p<0.05) stress responses measured based on feather corticosterone concentrations and blood heterophil:lymphocyte than those in PC group. However, none of dietary functional nutrients had a positive effect on growth performance of broiler chickens. Dietary supplementation of 250 mg/kg Vit C improved (p<0.05) CBH responses of broiler chickens, but other functional nutrients had no such an improvement in CBH responses. All functional nutrients decreased (p<0.05) stress responses of broiler chickens. Conclusion: Functional nutrients including Gln, Cr picolinate, Vit C, Bet, and Tau at the supplemental levels used in this study decrease stress responses of broiler chickens to a relatively similar extent. However, this reduction in stress responses could not fully ameliorate decreased productive performance of broiler chickens raised under the current heat stress conditions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.930-938
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• 2019

Objective: Estimate genetic parameters, the rate of inbreeding, and the effect of inbreeding on growth and egg production traits of a Thai native chicken breed Lueng Hang Kao Kabinburi housed under intensive management under a tropical climate. Methods: Genetic parameters were estimated for weight measured at four weekly intervals from body weight at day 1 (BW1D) to body weight at 24 weeks (BW24) of age, as well as weight at first egg, age at first egg (AFE), egg weight at first egg, and total number of eggs (EN) produced during the first 17 weeks of lay using restricted maximum likelihood. Inbreeding depression was estimated using a linear regression of individual phenotype on inbreeding coefficient. Results: Direct additive genetic effect was significant for all traits. Maternal genetic effect and permanent environmental hen effects were significant for all early growth traits, expect for BW24. For BW24, maternal genetic effect was also significant. Permanent environmental hen effect was significant for AFE. Direct heritabilities ranged from 0.10 to 0.47 for growth traits and ranged from 0.15 to 0.16 for egg production traits. Early growth traits had high genetic correlations between them. The EN was lowly negatively correlated with other traits. The average rate of inbreeding for the population was 0.09% per year. Overall, the inbreeding had no effect on body weight traits, except for BW1D. An increase in inbreeding coefficient by 1% reduced BWID by 0.09 g (0.29% of the mean). Conclusion: Improvement in body weight gain can be achieved by selecting for early growth traits. Selection for higher body weight traits is expected to increase the weight of first egg. Due to low but unfavorable correlations with body weight traits, selection on EN needs to be combined with other traits via multi-trait index selection to improve body weight and EN simultaneously.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.171-178
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• 2021

A comparative study was conducted to examine the effects of mixed and separate gender feeding on growth performance of Korean native chickens (KNC) against a white semi-broiler (WSB) and a commercial broiler (CB) over five weeks. 576 chicks were used with eight birds per cage in a randomized complete block design with 18 replicates per breed. For the KNC lines, three groups of male (M), female (F) and mixed-gender (FM) were used. Fresh water and feed were supplied on an ad-libitum basis. Birds were fed a standard starter (d 1 - 22) and grower diet (d 23 - 35). Body weight (BW), feed intake, and shank length (SL) were measured weekly. From the BW and feed consumed data, the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. The commercial broiler showed higher performance (p < 0.05) for all the indices measured for the entire period. The CB group consumed more feed and were more feed-efficient thus grew faster. This group was followed by the white semi-broiler and the KNC, in order. An intra-breed comparison for KNCs revealed that the males showed better growth performance with longer SL (p < 0.05) compared to the female and mixed-gender groups. The results showed that other than the breed type, mixed and separate gender feeding impacted on the growth performance of the two lines of Korean native chickens. Males for both lines of KNC generally performed better for the parameters measured, as determined by a greater BW and reduced FCR.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.257-261
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• 2013

A total of 96 pigs [(Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire) ${\times}$ Duroc] with an initial BW of $27.94{\pm}0.92kg$ were used in a 6-week experiment to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with fruit by-product extracts on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in growing pigs. Pigs were randomly allotted to four treatments : 1) CON (basal diet), 2) PRO (CON + 0.5% procyanidin), 3) HES (CON + 0.5% hesperidin), 4) TAN (CON + 0.5% tannin). There were six replications per treatment with four pigs per pen. Supplementation had no effect (p>0.05) on average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and G/F. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter and nitrogen was increased (p<0.05) in the HES treatment relative to the PRO treatment. Pigs fed the HES and TAN diets had greater (p<0.05) ATTD of energy than pigs fed PRO diet. The ATTD of ash was greatest (p<0.05) in HES treatments. In addition, the ATTD of calcium was greater (p<0.05) in HES treatments than in CON and PRO treatments. Overall, the results of this study indicated that dietary supplementation with 0.5% fruit by-products did not affect growth performance, but inclusion of 0.5% hesperidin increased nutrient digestibility in growing pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1445-1450
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• 2012

A study was conducted to evaluate effects of alfalfa meal on growth performance and gastrointestinal tract development of growing layer ducks to provide evidence for application of alfalfa meal in the duck industry. Two hundred and fifty-six healthy Shaoxing 7-wk old growing layer ducks were selected and randomly allocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments based on corn and soybean meal and containing 0, 3, 6, and 9% of alfalfa meal for 8 wks. Each treatment consisted of 4 replicates of 16 ducks each. Briefly, birds were raised in separate compartments, and each compartment consisted of three parts: indoor floor house, adjacent open area and a connecting water area. The results showed: i) Growing ducks fed alfalfa meal diet were not significantly different in average daily gain, feed intake and gain-to-feed ratio from those fed no alfalfa diet (p>0.05). ii) Alfalfa meal increased the ratio crop, gizzard to live weight, caecum to live weight, the caecum index of growing ducks (p<0.05). iii) Villus height in duodenum and jejunum of growing ducks increased significantly with the increase of alfalfa meal levels (p<0.05). Crypt depth in duodenum and jejunum of growing ducks decreased significantly with the increase of alfalfa meal levels (p<0.05). This experiment showed that feeding of alfalfa meal to growing layer ducks could improve gastrointestinal tract growth and small intestinal morphology without effect on performance. This experiment provides evidence that alfalfa meal is a very valuable feedstuff for growing layer ducks.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 2011

The increasing demand of the crops (soybean and corn) for biofuel production has increased the focus of the animal nutritionists to look for alternative feeds, which are economic and environmental friendly. To identify microalgae as suitable candidate as an alternative feed, growth response of Chlorella vulgaris was studied under varying concentrations of carbon dioxide (0.07, 1.4, 3.0 and 5.0%) and photon densities (39.19, 72.97, 105.41, 116.22, 135.14, $175.68\;{\mu}mol/m^2/s$) by employing a photo-bioreactor. Swine wastewater was also investigated as nutritional source to economize the biomass production. Results showed that the higher biomass production was found to be at 3.0% $CO_2$ compared to other $CO_2$ concentrations. However, no difference in biomass production was found at $105.41\;{\mu}mol/m^2/s$ and above photon densities with 12 h of photoperiodicity. It was observed that C. vulgaris could easily grow in 200 times diluted swine wastewater and growth was found to be similar with that of artificial medium. Provided the conducive conditions for optimal growth, it has also the potentiality of depleting ammonia nitrogen ($NH_4$-N) and orthophosphate ($PO_4^{3-}$-P) completely from the wastewater after 3~4 days of cultivation. Thus, growing C. vulgaris would not only solve the problem of animal feed, but also help in biological $CO_2$ mitigation and wastewater treatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1464-1472
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• 2011

Effects of a supplemental fermented agro by-products diet on growth performance, blood characteristics and carcass traits were investigated in fattening pigs. The fermented diet mainly contained 38.0% brewer's grain, 25.0% rice bran and 21.0% byproduct of king oyster mushrooms. The mixed ingredients were fermented at $40^{\circ}C$ for 7 days and fed to crossbred barrow pigs for 62 days. Ninety pigs were housed in 10 head per pen with three replicate pens per treatment. The pigs in the control group were fed with formula feed, while the pigs in T1 group were fed 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% fermented diet substituted with formula feed on 1 week interval. Pigs in T2 group were fed 30, 60 and 100% fermented diet substituted with formula feed on 1 week interval. The fermented diet significantly (p<0.05) decreased body weight gain and feed efficiency of pigs. The blood characteristics differed with diet types. Carcass grade was significantly better (p<0.05) in the pigs fed fermented diet than in the pigs fed control diet as well as ratio of high grade was higher in the fermented diet groups. Therefore, although a dietary of fermented diet decreased growth performance and feed efficiency, it improved the carcass grade in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.607-613
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• 2010

The influence of dietary supplementation with blended essential oil on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles and fecal characteristics was evaluated in 125 crossed ((Duroc ${\times}$Yorkshire) ${\times}$Landrace) pigs (6.21${\pm}$0.20 kg initial body weight and 21 d average age). The pigs were allotted to the following treatments: i) NC (antibiotic free diet), ii) PC (NC diet+44 ppm tylosin), iii) T1 (NC diet+0.1% essential oil), iv) T2 (NC diet+0.1% essential oil (with 0.3% Benzoic acid)) and v) T3 (NC+22 ppm tylosin and 0.05% essential oil). Average daily gain (ADG) was improved in the T2 group on d 14 (p<0.05). In addition, nutrient digestibility was partially affected (both positively and negatively) by the treatments. Furthermore, the immune system was stimulated and the fecal pH and fecal noxious gases were improved in pigs that received the diets supplemented with essential oil (p<0.05). The appearance and score of diarrhea also tended to be lower in pigs that were subjected to the essential oil treatments. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that supplementation of the diet with blended essential oils could replace treatment with antibiotics to improve growth performance and fecal characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1038-1042
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• 2009

Fifty-four cross-bred ((Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire)${\times}$Duroc) pigs (13.47${\pm}$0.03 kg average initial BW) were evaluated in a 42 d growth assay to determine the effects of the fermented soy product (FSP). The dietary treatments were: FSP 0 (corn-soybean basal diet), FSP 2.5 (FSP 0 amended with 2.5% FSP), and FSP 5 (FSP 0 amended with 5% FSP). The body weight at the end of the experiment increased linearly (p = 0.05) as the FSP levels in the diets increased. In addition, the ADG and G/F ratio also increased (linear effect, p = 0.06) as the levels of FSP increased. However, there was no effect of FSP on ADFI or DM digestibility (p>0.05). Furthermore, the N digestibility increased as the FSP levels increased (linear effect, p = 0.003), although the total protein concentration in the blood was not affected by FSP (p>0.05). Additionally, the albumin concentration was higher in pigs fed diets that contained 2.5% FSP than in pigs in the control group or the FSP 5 group (quadratic effect, p = 0.07). The creatinine concentrations were also evaluated at d 42 and found to be greater in pigs that received the FSP 2.5 diet (quadratic effect, p = 0.09). Moreover, the creatinine concentration increased linearly in response to FSP treatment (p = 0.09). Finally, although the BUN concentration on the final day of the experiment was greater in pigs that received the FSP 2.5 diet (quadratic effect, p = 0.10), there were no incremental differences in BUN concentrations among groups (p>0.05). Taken together, the results of this study indicate that feeding FSP to pigs during the late nursery phase improves growth performance and N digestibility.