• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2013

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of a rice-based diet on body weight and serum lipid levels. Thirty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups and fed a high-fat diet (HFD), rice-based diet (RD), or bread-based diet (BD) for five weeks. Our results showed that the RD group had a significantly lower final body weight, although there was no significant difference in daily food intake among the groups. There was a reduction in body weight gains, adipose tissues weight, and adipocyte size of epididymal adipose tissue in the RD group (p<0.05). Also, serum triglycerides and total cholesterol in the RD group were significantly decreased compared to the BD group. RD also reduced fasting glucose and insulin levels. These results indicate that the intake of RD attenuates increases in body weight and serum lipid concentrations in mice, suggesting its benefits for the dietary control of obesity and hyperlipidemia.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.180-187
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• 2015

This study was conducted to determine the effects of feeding by-product feed (BF)-based silage on the performance, blood metabolite parameters, and carcass characteristics of Hanwoo steers. The BF-based silage was composed of 50% spent mushroom substrate, 21% recycled poultry bedding, 15% cut ryegrass straw, 10.8% rice bran, 2% molasses, 0.6% bentonite, and 0.6% microbial additive (on a wet basis), and ensiled for over 5 d. Fifteen steers were allocated to three diets during the growing and fattening periods (3.1 and 9.8 months, respectively): a control diet (concentrate mix and free access to rice straw), a 50% BF-based silage diet (control diet+50% of maximum BF-based silage intake), and a 100% BF-based silage diet (the same amount of concentrate mix and ad libitum BF-based silage). The BF-based silage was fed during the growing and fattening periods, and was replaced with larger particles of rice straw during the finishing period. After 19.6 months of the whole period all the steers were slaughtered. Compared with feeding rice straw, feeding BF-based silage tended (p = 0.10) to increase the average daily gain (27%) and feed efficiency (18%) of the growing steers, caused by increased voluntary feed intake. Feeding BF-based silage had little effect on serum constituents, electrolytes, enzymes, or the blood cell profiles of fattening steers, except for low serum Ca and high blood urea concentrations (p<0.05). Feeding BF-based silage did not affect cold carcass weight, yield traits such as back fat thickness, longissimus muscle area, yield index or yield grade, or quality traits such as meat color, fat color, texture, maturity, marbling score, or quality grade. However, it improved good quality grade (1+ and 1++) appearance rates (60% for the control group vs 100% for the BF-based silage-fed groups). In conclusion, cheap BF-based silage could be successfully used as a good quality roughage source for beef cattle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.1388-1393
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• 2000

The present study was conducted to examine the feasibility of utilising bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea) shoot shell (BSS) in ruminants. Chemical composition, rumen degradability and some antinutritional compounds were determined for fresh and boiled BSSs to evaluate its feed value and safety. Thirty-two Holstein heifers were allocated to four groups and used to investigate the response in growth rate to supplementing ammoniated rice straw with fresh shell (phase 1) or silage of boiled BSS (phase 2). All animals were offered ammoniated straw ad libitum with 1kg of cotton seed meal (phase 1) or 0.5 kg of cotton seed meal and 0.5 kg of concentrate mixture (phase 2) per head per day. The BSS was supplemented at levels of 0, 3, 6 or 9 kg/d (phase 1) and 0, 5, 10 or 15 kg/d (phase 2) (as fed basis). The BSS was very high in moisture content, and its contents of crude protein and neutral detergent fiber were 13~16% DM and 65~76% DM, respectively; boiling resulting in higher moisture and protein. No hydrocyanic acid was detected in both BSSs and content of tannins was negligible. Rumen degradability of BSS was reasonably high, and with boiling the rapidly degradable fraction decreased, and potentially degradable component increased. Silage of the boiled BSS was slightly lower in both rapidly and slowly degraded fractions than the fresh BSS. Animals consumed all supplemented BSSs without any adverse health problems. Intake of ammoniated straw decreased with the increasing levels of BSS, but total intake was higher in almost all supplementary groups than in the non-BSS. Heifers had a higher growth rate in phase 1 with fresh BSS than in phase 2 with ensiled shell, and daily weight gains were 622, 629, 744 or 690 g in phase 1, and 578, 575, 677 or 635 g in phase 2 at four BSS levels, respectively. For both phases growth rate was significantly higher for the animals in groups 3 and 4 than those in groups 1 and 2 (p<0.01), with little difference between groups 1 and 2 (p>0.05) but significant difference between groups 3 and 4 (p<0.05). Supplementation with BSS also resulted in an improved feed conversion rate, with the least concentrate consumption in group 3 for both phases. It is concluded that the BSS has a high potential nutritional value as indicated by its medium protein content, reasonably high rumen degradability, and that inclusion of BSS in ammoniated rice straw diet is not only safe to animals, but also may improve growth rate of ruminants and feed conversion rate. It may be disadvantageous to use high amounts of BSS in ammoniated straw diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1092-1099
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• 2007

Two experiments were conducted to determine the additivity of apparent or true digestibility of phosphorus (P) in soybean meal (SBM), peas, faba beans, corn, oats, broken rice meal, rough rice meal, buckwheat, and sorghum for growing pigs. Chromic oxide (0.3%) was used as a digestion marker in both experiments. Each experiment lasted for 12 d, which consisted of a 7-d dietary adaptation period followed by a 5-d fecal collection period. Experiment 1 involved 6 diets: the SBM-based control diet; 4 diets with corn, oats, rough rice meal and broken rice meal substituted for SBM; and an additional diet with a representative mixture of the 5 ingredients. In Experiment 2, 6 diets were prepared similarly, except that the tested ingredients besides SBM were faba beans, peas, buckwheat, and sorghum. In each experiment, six barrows with an initial average individual BW of 20.5 kg were fed one of the six diets according to a $6{\times}6$ Latin square design. The apparent and true P digestibility values for the nine tested ingredients were determined by the substitution method. There were no differences (p>0.05) between the determined and the predicted true P digestibility values for the mixture of ingredients in Experiments 1 and 2. However, the determined and the predicted apparent P digestibility values for the mixture of ingredients differed (p = 0.059) in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. These results indicate that true P digestibility values are additive in ingredients containing low levels of phytate phosphorus and anti-nutritional factors, whereas the apparent P digestibility values are not always additive in single feed ingredients for growing pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1736-1744
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• 2008

Two experiments were conducted in central Vietnam to test the hypothesis that supplementation with a concentrate, comprising rice bran (45% fresh basis), maize (49%), fish meal (3%), urea (2%) and salt (1%), up to 2% of live weight (LW)/d (dry matter (DM) basis) would linearly increase digestible organic matter intake and LW gain of yellow cattle. In both experiments, there were five treatments, namely a basal diet of fresh grass fed at 1.25% of LW (experiment 1, elephant grass, Pennisetum purpureum; experiment 2, native grass) and rice straw (Oryza sativa) fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with concentrate at about 0.3, 0.7, 1.3 or 2.0% LW. There were 4 male growing cattle per treatment in experiment 1 and 3 in experiment 2. Diets were fed for 44 (experiment 1) or 49 (experiment 2) days, with feed intake recorded daily, LW measured about weekly and digestibility measurements made over 7 days commencing on day 24 (experiment 1) or day 10 (experiment 2). The elephant grass and native grass had neutral detergent fibre (NDF) concentrations of 82 and 73% DM, and nitrogen concentrations of 1.3 and 1.8% DM, respectively. The rice straw used had a NDF concentration of 79-84% DM and nitrogen concentration of 0.8% DM. The concentrate had NDF and nitrogen concentrations of 33 and 2.8% DM. In both experiments, DM intake increased (p<0.001) linearly as the amount of concentrate consumed increased. Rice straw intake declined (p<0.001) (experiment 1: 1.24 to 0.48 kg DM/d; experiment 2: 0.95 to 0.50 kg DM/d) as concentrate intake increased. Grass intake was not significantly affected by concentrate intake in either experiment. The lowest amount of concentrate supplement increased forage intake, after which substitution rate increased as the amount of concentrate consumed increased. However, substitution rates at the highest amount of concentrate consumed were modest at 0.3 to 0.5 kg DM reduction in forage intake/kg DM supplement consumed. In both experiments, digestible organic matter intake increased linearly (p<0.001) (experiment 1: 1.16 to 2.38 kg/d; experiment 2: 1.30 to 2.49 kg/d) as the amount of supplement consumed increased, as did LW gain (experiment 1: 0.15 to 0.81 kg/d; experiment 2: 0.15 to 0.77 kg/d). This was associated with significant (p<0.01) linear increases in organic matter intake and apparent organic matter digestibility. Neutral detergent fibre digestibility declined as concentrate intake increased, but the effect was not significant (p = 0.051) in experiment 2. These results are discussed in relation to existing literature and potential to improve the profitability of cattle fattening in central Vietnam.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.692-696
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• 1998

An experiment was conducted with eight growing sheep (average initial weight 20.6 kg and average final weight 23.7 kg) in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design to study the effect of type of forage supplementation to a basal diet of rice straw (ad libitum) and cassava (Manihot esculanta, approximately 9 g of dry matter $(DM).kg^{-0.75}{\cdot}day^{-1}$) on voluntary intake, digestion, rumen microbial protein synthesis and daily weight gain. Forages used were Leucaena (L, Leucaena leucocephala), Gliricidia (G, Gliricidia maculata) and Tithonia (T, Tithonia diversifolia, wild sunflower) at a DM supplementation level of approximately $13g.kg^{-0.75}.day^{-1}$. Organic matter intake was 40.4, 55.5, 55.0 and $54.9g{\cdot}kg.^{-0.75}{\cdot}day^{-1}$ for control (C, ad libitum straw and cassava), L, G and T. respectively, significantly lower for C than for the supplemented diets. Intake of supplementary forage had also a significantly positive effect on voluntary rice straw intake. All forage supplemented diets showed a significantly higher whole diet organic matter digestion than C ($488g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$), while T ($557g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) differed significantly from L ($516g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) but not from G ($526g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$). Daily weight gain was -1.7, 5.2, 5.4 and $4.7g{\cdot}kg^{-0.75}$, for C, L, G and T. respectively, significantly lower for C than for the forage-supplemented diets. Efficiency of microbial protein synthesis estimated from urinary excretion of purine derivatives was lower for C (3.8 g microbial N. (kg digestible organic matter intake $(DOMI))^{-1}$ than for the forage supplemented diets (11.3, 9.0 and 9.4 g microbial $N.(kg\;DOMI)^{-1}$ for L, G and T. respectively).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2007

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of disodium fumarate on the in vitro rumen fermentation profiles of different substrates and microbial communities. In experiment 1, nine diets (high-forage diet (forage:concentrate, e.g. F:C = 7:3, DM basis), medium-forage diet (F:C = 5:5, DM basis), low-forage diet(F:C = 1:9, DM basis), cracked corn, cracked wheat, soluble starch, tall elata (Festuca elata), perennial ryegrass and rice straw) were fermented in vitro by rumen microorganisms from local goats. The results showed that during 24 h incubations, for all substrates, disodium fumarate increased (p<0.05) the gas production, and tended to increase (p<0.10) the acetate, propionate and total VFA concentration and decrease the ratio of acetate to propionate, whereas no treatment effect was observed for the lactate concentration. The apparent DM loss for tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw increased (p<0.05) with the addition of disodium fumarate. With the exception of tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw, disodium fumarate addition increased the final pH (p<0.05) for all substrates. In experiment 2, three substrates (a high-forage diet, a medium-forage diet and a high concentrate diet) were fermented by mixed rumen microbes in vitro. A polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) technique was applied to compare microbial DNA fingerprints between substrates at the end of 24 h incubation. The results showed that when Festuca elata was used as substrate, the control and disodium fumarate treatments had similar DGGE profiles, with their similarities higher than 96%. As the ratio of concentrate increased, however, the similarities in DGGE profiles decreased between the control and disodium fumarate treatment. Overall, these results suggest that disodium fumarate is effective in increasing the pH and gas production for the diets differing in forage: concentrate ratio, grain cereals and soluble starch, and in increasing dry matter loss for the forages (tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw) in vitro, whereas its effect on changes of ruminal microbial community may largely depend on the general nature of the substrate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.68-72
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• 2004

The effects of the addition of yeast on in vitro roughage degradability and methane production were investigated in order to clarify the effects of yeast on the rumen microbes and to establish methods of rumen manipulation. Three roughages (whole crop corn, rice straw and Italian ryegrass) were incubated for 3, 6, 12 and 24 h with or without dried beer yeast following the method described by Tilley and Terry. Using the same method, these roughages were incubated with or without yeast extract, albumin or purified DNA. In vitro methane production was measured with or without dried beer yeast at 12 and 24 h. The degradability of yeast was found to be 57 and 80% at 12 and 24 h, respectively. The rate of degradation of fraction b was 6.16%/h. There was a significant increase in roughage degradability at 6 h (p<0.05), 12 h (p<0.05) and 24 h (p<0.01) by dried yeast addition. The degradability of all three roughages was higher in the samples treated with yeast extract than in the no addition samples except in the case of rice straw incubated for 12 h. Nevertheless, the magnitude of increment was smaller with the addition of yeast extract than without the addition of yeast. With the addition of purified DNA, there were significant increases in roughage degradability at 6 h (p<0.01), 12 h (p<0.01) and 24 h (p<0.05); however, higher degradability values were detected in the samples to which albumin was added, particularly at 6 h. If the degradability values of the no addition samples with those of samples containing yeast, yeast extract, DNA and albumin were compared, the largest difference was found in the samples to which yeast was added, although it is worth noting that higher values were observed in the yeast extract samples than in the DNA or albumin samples, with the exception of the case of rice straw incubated for 24 h. Methane production was significantly increased at both 12 and 24 h incubation. The increment of roughage degradation and methane production brought about by the addition of dried beer yeast to the samples was thought to be due to the activation of rumen microbes. Water soluble fraction of yeast also seemed to play a role in ruminal microbe activation. The increment of degradability is thought to be partially due to the addition of crude protein or nucleic acid but it is expected that other factors play a greater role. And those factors may responsible for the different effects of individual yeast on ruminal microbes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1278-1285
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• 2008

Measurement of gas produced during in vitro fermentation was used to investigate the fermentation characteristics and interactions of rice straw, wheat straw or maize stover mixed with alfalfa or clover at proportions of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100, respectively. Cumulative gas production was recorded at 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h of incubation, and the Gompertz function was used to describe the kinetics of gas production. In vitro dry matter and organic matter disappearances (IVDMD and IVOMD) were determined after 48 h incubation. The rate of gas production of clover was higher (p<0.05) than that of rice straw, wheat straw, maize stover and alfalfa when straws and hays were incubated separately. Increasing the proportion of alfalfa in the straw-alfalfa mixtures increased (p<0.05) the rates, but not the maximum volume of gas production. However, both rate and the maximum volume of gas production were increased (p<0.01) as the proportions of clover increased in the straw-clover mixtures. The cumulative gas production at 48 h, IVDMD and IVOMD showed no consistent interaction effects between different mixtures of cereal straws and hays. The extent of interactive effects was affected by the types of cereal straw, legume hay and their proportions in the mixture. The appropriate combination for the mixture of rice straw or maize stover with leguminous hays was 75:25 and 25:75, respectively. The better combination occurred at a proportion of 50:50 for the mixture of wheat straw and alfalfa. We conclude that the suitable proportion of low-quality straw and high quality legume hay combination should be considered in the ration formulation system of ruminants according to the extent of positive interactive effects.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.1329-1336
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• 2000

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of Murrah buffalo cows pulling sledges under field conditions on milk production and milk composition. In Exp. 1, 24 buffaloes in the fourth month of lactation were used. They were allotted to four treatments according to a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement: work or no work, and with or without urea-molasses cake supplementation (700 g/animal/day). Feeds consisted of 20 kg fresh elephant grass (18% DM), 2 kg rice bran per day and rice straw ad lib. The animals worked in pairs three hours per day (work done: $3464{\pm}786kJ/d$) five days a week for three months. Three teams worked in the morning and the others worked in the afternoon in the same day. The following day the working times were switched. In Exp. 2, 16 lactating Murrah buffalo cows in the sixth month of lactation were allotted to two groups (work and no work). They were fed with fresh ruzi grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis) ad lib. supplemented with 2 kg rice bran and 700 g urea-molasses cake. The working regime was similar to that of the first experiment (work done: $3753{\pm}879kJ/d$) and they worked for two months. In the first experiment, there was a small but significant drop (p<0.05) in milk yield from 3.5 to 3.0 kg/day due to work, but there was no supplementation effect. The working buffaloes lost 5.2 kg whereas the non-working animals gained 9.7 kg during the three months (p<0.05). Supplementation increased live weight by 9.9 kg as compared to -5.4 kg for those not supplemented (p<0.05). Milk composition was not affected by the treatments. In the second experiment, daily milk production was similar for both treatments and approximately 3 kg. No significant differences were found in milk composition or in live weight changes for working and non-working groups, respectively. It was concluded that work may cause a reduction in milk yield and a loss of live weight on a poor rice straw diet but that an appropriate supplementation can alleviate this situation.