• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of phase feeding methods on growth performance, carcass characteristics, pork quality, and economical efficiency in growing-finishing pigs. A total of 120 crossbred pigs ([Yorkshire ${\times}$ Landrace] ${\times}$ Duroc), average initial body weight 25.23 ${\pm}$ 2.66 kg, were allotted to 5 treatments by body weight and sex in a randomized complete block (RCB) design. Each treatment had 6 replicates with 4 pigs per pen. The treatments were 1) A (fed late weaner feed during whole phase), 2) B (fed late weaner feed in growing phase and grower feed in finishing phase), 3) C (fed grower feed during whole phase), 4) D (fed grower feed in growing phase and early finisher feed in early and late finishing phase), 5) E (fed grower feed in growing phase, early finisher feed in early finishing phase and late finisher feed in late finishing phase). Commercial diets bought from private feed company were used for this experiment. During the early growing phase (6 wks), treatments A and B showed higher growth performance than that of other treatments (P<0.05). However, growth performance tended to be similar among treatments at 10 wks after feeding and there was no difference in time of market weight (13 wks). Moreover, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration was lowered in treatment E than other treatments during whole experimental period (P<0.01). Carcass characteristics and pork quality were measured when body weight of pigs reached at 110.33 ${\pm}$ 2.1 kg. Days to market weight (110 kg), quality grade, pork color, and pork pH did not show any significant difference among treatments. These results suggested that phase feeding based upon growth stages of pigs showed no detrimental effects on growth performance and the pork quality. Moreover, feed cost was saved approximately 37% by phase feeding method without delaying of days to market weight compared to general conventional feeding method (B) of swine farm in Korea.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2010

A previous study has shown that the g.17924G>A polymorphism of fatty acid synthase (FASN) is associated with unsaturated fatty acid composition in the Hanwoo beef, hence this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within FASN gene on the selection phenotypes of Hanwoo breeding stock. A total of 925 progeny test steers were used to genotype g.11280G>A, g.13125T>C, and g.17924G>A polymorphisms and significant associations were found among g.11280G>A, g.17924G>A, and carcass traits, such as carcass weight, backfat thickness, and beef quantity index. No significant association was found between g.13125T>C and carcass traits. Although the degree of linkage disequilibrium (LD) was not strong among g.11280G>A, g.13125T>C, and g.17924G>A in the LD analysis, four major haplotype classes were formed with the genotypic information within the FASN gene; the frequencies of the halpotypeswere -GCG-[0.378], -ATG-[0.301], -GTA-[0.191], and -ACG-[0.063], respectively. Phenotypic association was performed among these haploptypes, and the haplotype 2 (-ATG-)was significantly associated with higher carcass weight when compared to the other haplotypes, i.e. haplotype 1 (-GCG-) and haplotype 3 (-GTA-). A copy number of the FASN haplotype 3 (-GTA-) had also a significant association with carcass weight of subjects. In conclusion, it was observed that two polymorphisms (g.11280G>A and g.17924G>A) and their haplotypes within the FASN gene are consistently associated with carcass traits. Therefore, it is desirable to use the FASN polymorphisms for pre-selection program as genetic marker with improved carcass yield and beef quality of the Hanwoo sire at the Hanwoo Improvement Center as well as for commercial Hanwoo producers, the FASN genotypic information can be used for a part of selecting Hanwoo dam for superior calf production.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.263-273
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• 2002

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of $\beta$-mercaptoethanol ($\beta$-ME) on lipid peroxidation and fertilization ability in vitro by xanthine (X) - xanthine oxidase (XO) system in boar spermatozoa frozen-thawed. The boar spermatozoa were treated with X and/or XO, and the spermatozoa viability were measured by the eosin-nigrosin stain method. In control group, level of vitality in boar spermatozoa were higher than in medium with X, XO and X+XO groups. No significant differences, however, were observed under the all conditions. The percentage of spermatozoa that reached acrosome reaction were significantly (P<0.05) higher in sperm treated without that than with $\beta$-ME under the all conditions. On the other hand, when spermatozoa were inseminated in medium with X and/or XO, the penetration rates in all conditions were higher in medium with that than without $\beta$-ME. However, significant differences were not observed between medium with and without $\beta$-ME. The lipid peroxidation of sperm was evaluated on the basis of malondialdehyde (MDA) production. The MDA were higher in sperm treated without that than with $\beta$-ME under the above all conditions. However, significant differences were not observed between medium with and without $\beta$-ME. Sperm-SH group were higher detected in medium with that than without $\beta$-ME under the all conditions. The activity of sperm binding to Bona pellucida was also evaluated through binding to salt-stored porcine oocytes. In control group, sperm binding to zona pellucida were significantly (P<0.05) higher than in medium with X+XO groups. The sperm binding in all conditions were higher in medium with that than without $\beta$-ME. However, significant differences were not observed between medium with and without $\beta$-ME. These results suggest that addition of $\beta$-ME in X-XO system may play a positive role in improving of fertilization ability in vitro.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2003

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of castration and ovariectomy on growth performance and plasma hormone concentration in pigs. A total of 48 pigs of 35 days of age were used. The results obtained in the present study are summarized as follows: 1. No significant difference was found in average daily gain between ovariectomy group (898.6g) and control gilt group (862.7g), and between castration group (926.0g) and control boar group (945.5g), respectively. Average daily gain of control boar group, however, was significantly higher than that of control gilt group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in feed/gain between ovariectomy and control gilt group and between castration and control boar group, respectively. Backfat thickness was significantly (p<0.05) higher in ovariectomy or castration group than in control gilt or boar group, respectively. 2. Plasma concentration of IGF-I was significantly (p<0.05) increased during the period of 5 weeks of age (45.1 $\pm$0.72 ng/ml) to 15 weeks of age (356.3$\pm$3.05 ng/ml), and maintained constantly afterwards in control gilt group, as was in control boar group. That of ICF-I tended to be lower in ovariectomy or castration group than in control gilt or boar group, respectively. Regarding steroid hormones of estradiol-17$\beta$, progesterone, and testosterone, the concentration was extremely low at 5 weeks of age, however, increased from 11 weeks to 23 weeks of age in control gilt or boar group, while it was nearly under detection limit in ovariectomy or castration group. 3. Chemical compositions of pork loins were not affected by ovariectomy or castration, except that crude ash content was significantly (p<0.05) higher in castration group than in control boar group. These results indicated that ovariectomy or castration had no effects on growth performance and feed utilization. However, the concentration of sex steroid hormones was under detection limit in ovariectomy and castration group. Further studies, however, are needed to develope the techniques which minimize the stress related with castration or ovariectomy for the production of high quality pork.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.335-346
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• 2004

Factors associated with milk urea nitrogen on milk yield and milk composition were investigated in this study regarding feeding management and Physiological status of lactating cows. The data for 3 years between 1999 and 2002 for this study were collected from 129,645 cows by Korean Agricultural Cooperatives Federation. The objectives of this study were to describe the relationships between milk urea concentrations and seasonal factors, cow factors and production of milk, milk fat, protein and somatic cell score(SCS). Milk urea was highest in summer and it also showed a nonlinear association with milk yield. Milk yield was higher at milk urea concentrations of 21 ${\sim}$ 24mg/dl, however it decreased at higher level of milk urea concentrations than 24mg/dl. Milk urea was higher with increased parities of cows and in particular, at 3 to 4 parities. There was a negative association between milk urea and SCS in milk. SCS in milk was lowest at milk urea concentrations of 2l${\sim}$24mg/dl. Milk fat and milk protein were greatly affected by days in milk(DIM), year of birth, season and milk urea concentrations, respectively. While milk urea increased in summer, milk fat and protein were decreased. Milk protein decreased according to longer days in milk. With regard to the influences of parity, milk protein in overall was negatively correlated to milk urea in all lactations, however the extent of decrease of milk protein at high concentrations of milk urea was bigger at third lactation. The balanced supply of energy and protein to the animals might have greatly affected the urea concentrations and protein content of milk.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.819-830
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• 2008

The object of this study was to investigate different levels of extruded rice product(Nutri-RS®) supplementation as an alternative to lactose on growth performance, diarrhea score, fecal E.coli and volatile fatty acid(VFA) in weaning pigs. Treatments were 1) Control(basal), L3(basal+3% extruded rice product), L6(basal+6% extruded rice product). The control diet in Phase I and Phase II contained 16 and 9% of lactose, respectively. For the feeding trial, a total of 81 crossbred pigs, averaging 7.56±1.18 kg body weight, were allotted to three treatments in three replicates with nine pigs per pen by RCBD. The experimental period was total 5 weeks. During the whole experimental period, there were no significant differences in growth performance, diarrhea score, fecal volatile fatty acid concentration among all treatments. Although there were no significant differences, pigs fed diet of L6 tended to show higher BW and ADG, ADFI, and fecal volatile fatty acid concentration compared to other treatments. Treatment L6 showed the lowest fecal E. coli count among all treatments(P<0.05). These results suggested that inclusion of extruded rice product has similar performance a with 6% of lactose in diet for weaning pigs and reduce approximately 9% production cost of weaning pig's diet. Therefore, extruded rice product could be utilized as an alternative feed ingredient to lactose in weaning pig’s diet.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2011

This study was conducted to examine whether efficiency of oocyte production from superovulated prepubertal goats. Fifteen prepubertal and twenty adult goats, maintained in a pen under natural day length and fed hay ad libitum, were pretreated with progestagen implanted CIDR for 10 days. Superovulation treatment of the goats received twice daily intramuscular injection of a total of 70 mg FSH for 3 days from Day 8 of CIDR. All the gonadotrophin treated goats were injected with 10 mg $PGF_2{\alpha}$ on Day 8 and 400~600 IU hCG in the afternoon on Day 10. Oocytes were recovered by follicle aspiration or oviduct flushing at 35 to 40 h after hCG injection through mid-ventral incision. The in vivo matured oocytes was activated by ionomycin (5 min) and 6-DMAP (3.5~4 h). The activated oocytes were cultured in mSOF medium containing 0.8% BSA at 38.5$^{\circ}C$ in an atmosphere of 5% CO$_2$, 5% O$_2$, 90% N$_2$ for 7~8 days. There was no significant difference in the mean number of CL and in vivo matured and follicular oocytes recovered. But, quality of I + II grade follicular oocytes was lower (p<0.05) in the prepubertal goat (25.0%) than the adults (52.4%). The same results were also observed in the cleavage and blastocyst rate of activated oocytcs. The cleavage and blastocyst rate from prepubertal derived oocytes were lower (p<0.05) in the prepubertal goat (54.5%, 23.3%) than the adult goat (86.8%, 46.6%). Considering overall these results, we suggest that maturation of donor goats is a major factor affecting recovered oocytes quality and in vitro development of activated goat oocytes.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.283-291
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• 2004

Feeding trials were conducted with Euglena strains grown under different media. The effect of supplementation of Euglena on the laying performance, egg quality and fatty acid composition of egg yolk was studied. In experiment I, two hundred eighty 32-wk-old ISA Brown layers were randomly assigned to seven dietary treatments for 4 wks. Each treatment consisted of 4 replications with 10 birds each housed in two birds cages. Control diet was formulated to have $17\%$ CP and 2,750 kcal ME/kg. Euglena gracilis Z. (EG) was added to control diet at the level of 0.25, 0.5, $1.0\%$ and Euglena gracilis Z. bleached and DHA enriched (EGBD; a strain mutated by streptomycin and cultivated in DHA enriched medium) at the level of 0.5, 1.0, $2.0\%$ in the diet. In experiment 2, three hundred 84-wk-old ISA brown layers were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments: T1; Control, T2; T1 + EGBD $0.5\%$, T3; T1 + Euglena gracilis Z. DHA enriched (EGD; cultivated in DHA enriched medium) $0.5\%$, T4; T1 + EGD $1.0\%$, T5; T1 + EGD $2.0\%$. Each treatment had 5 replication of 12 birds each housed in two birds cages. In experiments 1 and 2, Euglena suppplementation did not significantly affect egg production but increased egg weight and feed intake. In experiment 1, EG was more effective in increasing egg yolk color score than EGBD. Egg yolk color of EG $1\%$ treatment showed the highest score. EGBD supplementation increased DHA concentration of egg yolk. EGBD $2\%$ treatment showed the highest DHA and the lowest palmitic and stearic acids concentration in the egg yolk. In experiment 2, EGBD $0.5\%$ treatment showed highest DHA level in egg yolk (P<0.05). It was conducted that EGBD is a single cell protein source rich in DHA, that can be used to produce DHA enriched eggs.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2008

Neural stem/precursor derived from pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has considerable therapeutic potential due to their ability to generate various neural cells which can be used in cell-replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. However, production of neural cells from hESCs remains technically very difficult. Understanding neural-tube like rosette characteristic neural precursor cells from hESCs may provide useful information to increase the efficiency of hESC neural differentiation. Generally, neural rosettes were derived from differentiating hEBs in attached culture system, however this is time-consuming and complicated. Here, we examined if neural rosettes could be formed in suspension culture system by bypassing attachment requirement. First, we tested whether the size of hESC clumps affected the formation of human embryonic bodies (hEBs) and neural differentiation. We confirmed that hEBs derived from $500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$ square sized hESC clumps were effectively differentiated into neural lineage than those of the other sizes. To induce the rosette formation, regular size hEBs were derived by incubation of hESC clumps($500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$) in EB medium for 1 wk in a suspended condition on low attachment culture dish and further incubated for additional $1{\sim}2$ wks in neuroectodermal sphere(NES)-culture medium. We observed the neural tube-like rosette structure from hEBs after $7{\sim}10$ days of differentiation. Their identity as a neural precursor cells was assessed by measuring their expressions of neural precursor markers(Vimentin, Nestin, MSI1, MSI2, Prominin-1, Pax6, Sox1, N-cadherin, Otx2, and Tuj1) by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining. We also confirmed that neural rosettes could be terminally differentiated into mature neural cell types by additional incubation for $2{\sim}6$ wks with NES medium without growth factors. Neuronal(Tuj1, MAP2, GABA) and glial($S100{\beta}$ and GFAP) markers were highly expressed after $2{\sim}3$ and 4 wks of incubation, respectively. Expression of oligodendrocyte markers O1 and CNPase was significantly increased after $5{\sim}6$ wks of incubation. Our results demonstrate that rosette forming neural precursor cells could be successfully derived from suspension culture system and that will not only help us understand the neural differentiation process of hESCs but also simplify the derivation process of neural precursors from hESCs.

• 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.