• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.817-825
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• 2024

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify suitable polynomial regression for modeling the average growth trajectory and to estimate the relative development of the rib eye area, scrotal circumference, and morphometric measurements of Guzerat young bulls. Methods: A total of 45 recently weaned males, aged 325.8±28.0 days and weighing 219.9±38.05 kg, were evaluated. The animals were kept on Brachiaria brizantha pastures, received multiple supplementations, and were managed under uniform conditions for 294 days, with evaluations conducted every 56 days. The average growth trajectory was adjusted using ordinary polynomials, Legendre polynomials, and quadratic B-splines. The coefficient of determination, mean absolute deviation, mean square error, the value of the restricted likelihood function, Akaike information criteria, and consistent Akaike information criteria were applied to assess the quality of the fits. For the study of allometric growth, the power model was applied. Results: Ordinary polynomial and Legendre polynomial models of the fifth order provided the best fits. B-splines yielded the best fits in comparing models with the same number of parameters. Based on the restricted likelihood function, Akaike's information criterion, and consistent Akaike's information criterion, the B-splines model with six intervals described the growth trajectory of evaluated animals more smoothly and consistently. In the study of allometric growth, the evaluated traits exhibited negative heterogeneity (b<1) relative to the animals' weight (p<0.01), indicating the precocity of Guzerat cattle for weight gain on pasture. Conclusion: Complementary studies of growth trajectory and allometry can help identify when an animal's weight changes and thus assist in decision-making regarding management practices, nutritional requirements, and genetic selection strategies to optimize growth and animal performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1516-1521
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different energy intake on physical and chemical composition in body fractions, growth performance and meat characteristics of finishing barrows and gilts. A total of twenty six crossbred (Landrace$\times$Yorkshire) consisting of 16 barrows and 13 gilts were used in this study. The animals were allocated by sex to two treatments to form a $2\times2$ factorial arrangement. The respective factors were sex (barrow and gilt) and dietary energy intake (1.8 and 3.0 times energy for maintenance). Pigs were kept in individual pens and had ad libitum access to feed and water from the start of the experiment at $52.4{\pm}1.9kg$ until they reached $109.9{\pm}4.4kg$ live weight. The growth performance, physical composition and meat characteristics of finishing pigs were not greatly affected by the sex. However, higher fat tissue weight in the carcass was observed in barrows compared with gilts (p<0.05). Higher proportions of water and protein (p<0.05), and lower lipid proportion (p<0.01) in the empty body and carcass were observed in gilts compared with barrows, while protein proportion in lean tissue was not affected by the sex. In fat tissue, only protein proportion was higher in gilts compared with barrows (p<0.05). Although, growth performance, physical and chemical compositions in body fractions were greatly affected, final body or carcass weight was partly affected by the energy intake In addition, loin characteristics such as shear force and loin eye area were partly influenced by energy intake levels. Therefore, the present results showed that growth performance and meat characteristics were not influenced but chemical body composition was greatly influenced by the sex. Growth performance, physical and chemical compositions in body fractions were greatly affected, whereas meat characteristics were partly affected by the energy intake levels.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.43-46
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• 1988

Based on our previous results that among 4 strains of mice SHN and GR/A showed the highest mammary growth potentials in females and males, respectively. Effects of crossbreeding on normal and neoplastic mammary growth were studied in $(SHN\;{\times}\;GR/A)F_1$ virgin female mice. $F_1$ mice were higher than the parental strains in the end-bud formation and the ductal growth of mammary glands at 60 days of age and at tumorous age, respectively. While there was little difference between $F_1$ and both parental strains in the onset age of the first mammary tumors, mammary tumorigenic potential was apparently higher in the former than in the latters. This would be the first report that demonstrated directly the contribution of mammary growth potential of males to that of female offspring.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.1177-1180
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• 1999

This study describes the growth of broiler chickens to the two forms of Gompertz function for application in broiler production models. The first form is based on the estimated mature weight ($W_A$), while the second is based on the estimated hatch weight ($W_O$). Both equations gave identical estimation because they are mathematically identical. To fit the growth curve of commercial broilers that marketed at 35-42 days, it is unnecessary to keep broilers to near maturity (> day 140) to obtain growth data for deriving the Gompertz function. This date does not improve the curve fitting of the early growing period. Additionally, a high mortality and health problem occurred to this type of chicken after day 105.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.975-985
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• 2021

The sufficient amount of protein supply is crucial for improving the growth performance of growing beef cattle. In addition, due to the improvement in the genetic potential of the carcass weight of Hanwoo steers, dietary protein requirements may be increased during the rapid growth period. Accordingly, the dietary crude protein (CP) level in growing Hanwoo steers has been increasing in the field. However, little scientific evidence is available in relation to this. Therefore, this study was conducted to test whether a higher dietary CP level than convention would improve the growth performance and body metabolism in growing Hanwoo steers. Fifty growing Hanwoo steers were randomly divided into two groups and fed either a commercial diet (CON) or a higher CP (HCP) concentrate mix, provided with a similar level of dietary energy. Tall fescue hay was provided ad libitum. The dietary CP level did not affect growth performance and blood metabolite. Nitrogen intake, predicted nitrogen excretion, and retained nitrogen were higher in the HCP group than in the CON group (p < 0.01). Although there was no difference in the nitrogen utilization efficiency, the growth efficiency per retained nitrogen decreased in the HCP group (p = 0.02). A higher dietary CP level may increase nitrogen retention in growing Hanwoo steers without improving growth performance, which leads to reduced growth efficiency per retained nitrogen. Furthermore, considering the high price of feed protein and increased nitrogen excretion to the environment, a further increase in the protein level may not be sustainable.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.16-27
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• 2024

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of heat stress on the growth traits and genetic parameters of Thai native chickens. Methods: A total of 16,487 records for growth traits of Thai native chickens between 2017 and 2022 were used in this study. Data included the body weight at birth, body weight at 4, 8, and 12 weeks of age (BW0, BW4, BW8, BW12), average daily gain during 0 to 4, 4 to 8, and 8 to 12 weeks of age (ADG0-4, ADG4-8, ADG8-12), absolute growth rate at birth, at 4, 8, and 12 weeks of age (AGR0, AGR4, AGR8, AGR12). The repeatability test day model used the reaction-norm procedure to analyze the threshold point of heat stress, rate of decline of growth traits, and genetic parameters. Results: At temperature and humidity index (THI) of 76, Thai native chickens began to lose their growth traits, which was the onset of heat stress in this study. The estimated heritability, genetic correlation between animal and heat stress effect, and correlations between the intercept and slope of the permanent environmental effects were 0.27, -0.85, and -0.83 for BW, 0.17, -0.81, and -0.95 for ADG, 0.25, -0.61, and -0.83 for AGR, respectively. Male chickens are more affected by heat stress than female chickens with a greater reduction of BW, ADG, and AGR, values equal to -9.30, -0.23, -15.21 (in males) and -6.04, -0.21, -10.10 (in females) gram per 1 level increase of THI from the THI of 76. Conclusion: The influence of thermal stress had a strong effect on the decline in growth traits and genetic parameters in Thai native chickens. This study indicated that genetic models used in conjunction with THI data are an effective method for the analysis and assessment of the effects of heat stress on the growth traits and genetics of native chickens.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.777-789
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• 2020

Intense artificial selection has been imposed to Luzhong mutton sheep population in the past years. Improvements on growth and reproductive performance are two breeding goals in the present herd. Although some progresses were phenotypically observed possibly due to inbreeding induced by strong selection in terms of these traits, the genomic evaluation was poorly understood. Therefore, a high-density SNP array was used to characterize the pattern of runs of homozygosity (ROH), estimate inbreeding and inbreeding depressions on early growth performance and litter size based upon ROH, and scan positive selection signatures of recent population. Consequently, a low inbreeding level was observed which had negative effects on litter size, but not on early growth performance. And 160 genes were under selection, of which some were reported to be linked to several traits of sheep including body weight, litter size, carcass and meat quality, milk yield and composition, fiber quality and health, and the top genes were associated with growth (growth hormone [GH]- growth hormone receptor [GHR]- Insulin-like growth factor 1 [IGF1] axis) and litter size (bone morphogenic proteins [BMPs]-associated). The effectiveness of previous breeding measures was highlighted, but purging selection was proposed to alleviate the inbreeding depression on litter size, providing some genomic insights to breeding management of Luzhong mutton sheep.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1338-1350
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• 2012

This review focuses on the nutritional effects from birth until age at first calving on growth, mammary developmental changes, and first-lactation milk yield in heifer calves. The advancement in the genetic potential and the nutritional requirements of the animals has hastened the growth rate. Genetic selection for high milk yield has suggested higher growth capacity and hence increasing nutritional inputs are required. Rapid rearing by feeding high energy or high concentrate diets not only reduces the age of sexual maturity but also lowers the time period of attaining the age of first calving. However, high energy diets may cause undesirable fat deposition thereby affecting future milk yield potential. Discrepancies exist whether overfed or overweight heifers at puberty can influence the mammary development and future milk yield potential and performance. The data on post-pubertal nutritional management suggested that body weight at calving and post-pubertal growth rate is important in first lactation milk yield. There is a continuous research need for strategic feeding that accelerates growth of dairy heifers without reduction in subsequent production. Nutritional management from birth, across puberty and during pregnancy is critical for mammary growth and for producing a successful cow. This review will mostly highlight studies carried out on dairy breeds and possible available opportunities to manipulate nutritional status from birth until age at first calving.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.601-612
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• 2008

This study was conducted to figure out how the shape of Hanwoo changes over time, examine the rank correlations between the carcass traits which are the selection traits and parameters of growth curve, and determine the correlation between body shape and carcass. Body weight, body measurements and carcass traits were measured from 161 castrated Hanwoo, and 12 growth traits and 5 carcass traits were investigated in total. The logistic model(Nelder, 1961) used for the estimation of growth curve parameters and growth characteristics at inflection point were calculated by these growth curve parameters. The value of this parameter was greatest for pinbone width, which suggests that it is an early ripening trait, while it was lowest for chest girth, suggesting it to be a late ripening trait. The rank correlations of chest depth, chest width, and hip width with backfat thickness steadily increased from 6 to 24 months, while the rank correlations of other traits decreased after 18 months until 24 months of age. Only phenotypic records were analyzed in this study, but for examine the genetic changes over growth phase in Hanwoo, if another additional genetic analysis like as estimation of genetic parameters should achieve, body measurements may be useful traits in proven bull selection.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.989-998
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• 2022

Objective: This study investigated the effects of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) during late pregnancy on the cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation in ovine fetal thymuses. Methods: Eighteen time-mated Mongolian ewes with singleton fetuses were allocated to three groups at d 90 of pregnancy: restricted group 1 (RG1, 0.18 MJ ME/body weight [BW]^0.75/d, n = 6), restricted group 2 (RG2, 0.33 MJ ME/BW^0.75/d, n = 6) and control group (CG, ad libitum, 0.67 MJ ME/BW^0.75/d, n = 6). Fetuses were recovered at slaughter on d 140. Results: The G0/G1 phase cell number in fetal thymus of the RG1 group was increased but the proliferation index and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were reduced compared with the CG group (p<0.05). Fetuses in the RG1 group exhibited decreased growth hormone receptor (GHR), insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor (IGF-2R), and their mRNA expressions (p<0.05). For the RG2 fetuses, there were no differences in the proliferation index and PCNA expression (p>0.05), but growth hormone (GH) and the mRNA expression of GHR were lower than those of the CG group (p<0.05). The thymic mRNA expressions of cyclin-dependent protein kinases (CDKs including CDK1, CDK2, and CDK4), CCNE, E2-factors (E2F1, E2F2, and E2F5) were reduced in the RG1 and RG2 groups (p<0.05), and decreased mRNA expressions of E2F4, CCNA, CCNB, and CCND were occurred in the RG1 fetuses (p<0.05). The decreased E-cadherin (E-cad) as a marker for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was found in the RG1 and RG2 groups (p<0.05), but the OB-cadherin which is a marker for activated fibroblasts was increased in fetal thymus of the RG1 group (p<0.05). Conclusion: These results indicate that weakened GH/IGF signaling system repressed the cell cycle progression in G0/G1 phase in IUGR fetal thymus, but the switch from reduced E-cad to increased OB-cadherin suggests that transdifferentiation process of EMT associated with fibrogenesis was strengthened. The impaired cell growth, retarded proliferation and modified differentiation were responsible for impaired maturation of IUGR fetal thymus.