• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 1990

This experiment was conducted to compare the fatty acid composition in the backfat and the levels of testosterone and androstenone in the serum of boars, barrows and gilts. The results obrained are summarized as follows : 1. The contents of palmitic acid and stearic acid in the backfat of barrows increased as their body weight increased and the levels of them were higher in barrows than in boars. However, the contents of oleic acid and linoleic acid were lower in barrows than in boars. 2. The levels of testosterone in boars at 70, 90 and 110 kg of body weight were 3.25, 5.66 and 4.5ng/ml respectively, while those of barrows or gilts were 0.01-0.43ng/ml. 3. The level of androstenone in boars at 110kg of body weight was higher(1.04ng/ml) than that at 70kg of body wight(0.44ng/ml), but there was little difference in the levels of it by body weight or age in barrows and gilts.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.412-426
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• 2023

Currently, pigs breed in Korea are LYD (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) crossbred pigs. Pigs used as fresh meat are gilts and barrows. However, the current supply of pork is not satisfying Korean consumers. In addition, the comparison of carcasses between gilts and barrows only studies carcass weight, backfat thickness, or meat quality, and there are very few studies comparing carcass characteristics. The purpose of this study was to compare characteristics of 7 primal cuts of gilts and barrows as measured by AutoFom III. A total of 350,179 pigs were used, including 176,461 gilts and 173,718 barrows. Characteristics of seven primal cuts were measured using AutoFom III. In the case of carcass weight, there was no significant difference in grade 1+. For all other survey items except for grade 2, gilts showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher values. For all grades except for pork belly, amounts of the remaining six primal cuts were higher in gilts (all p < 0.05,). In addition, the ratio of intermuscular fat in the pork belly of barrows showed a higher value than that in the pork belly of gilts (p < 0.05). The amount of pork belly, which is the most popular among consumers in Korea, not only produced more production than gilts in barrows, but also showed a higher value than gilts in barrows for the ratio of intermuscular fat affecting taste. In summary, gilts produced higher yields than barrows in all parts except pork belly. For the production of only pork belly, barrows showed higher production than gilts.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.1003-1007
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• 2001

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary SAA (sulfur-containing amino acids) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) content, and to determine the optimal SAA:lysine ratio for growing barrows and gilts. A total of 150 pigs (75 barrows and 75 gilts, Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire${\times}$Duroc) were assigned to 6 treatments with 5 replicates of 5 pigs per pen. All pigs were fed diets containing either 1.12 (for barrows) or 1.33% (for gilts) dietary lysine with increasing SAA levels (50, 55 and 60% of dietary lysine) in a $2{\times}3$ factorial design. Throughout the whole experimental period (15 to 54 kg body weight), there was no interaction between sexes and SAA:lysine ratios on ADG, ADFI and FCR. However, increasing the SAA:lysine ratio from 50 to 60% in a diet showed a trend to increase ADG and ADFI of barrows. None of differences in nutrient digestibilities except for calcium and phosphorus were observed and gilts showed higher digestibility of calcium and phosphorus (p<0.05). Among dietary SAA:lysine ratios, there were no differences in apparent nutrient digestibility. Mean values of the essential amino acids (EAA), non-essential amino acids (NEAA) and total amino acids (TAA) digestibilities were higher in gilts than barrows (p<0.01). However, no differences in mean value of EAA, NEAA and TAA digestibilities were observed among dietary SAA:lysine ratios. Between sexes and among SAA:lysine ratios, no significant difference in BUN concentration was observed. This study demonstrated that the optimal inclusion ratio of SAA:lysine was 55% and below 50% in barrows and gilts, respectively.

• 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.13 no.12
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• pp.1731-1737
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• 2000

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of threonine:lysine ratios on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration, and to estimate the optimal threonine:lysine ratios for growing barrows and gilts. A total of 150 pigs (Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire${\times}$Duroc, $16.75{\pm}0.42kg$ average body weight, 75 barrows and 75 gilts) was randomly allotted into six treatments in a $2{\times}3$ factorial design. Six diets were formulated to contain 1.12% lysine for barrows and 1.33% lysine for gilts with three threonine:lysine ratios (50, 60 and 70%) for both barrows and gilts. Throughout the whole experimental period (16 to 56 kg body weight), there was no interaction between sex and dietary threonine:lysine ratio in average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion rate (FCR). Between sexes, there was a clear sex-effect showing better growth performance of barrows. Barrows consumed more feed (p<0.01) and grew faster (p<0.01) than gilts. For barrows, there was a trend to improved ADG and FCR with increasing threonine:lysine ratio. For gilts, there was a trend to improved ADG and FCR up to threonine:lysine ratio of 60%, but not significant. There was no interaction between sex and threonine:lysine ratio in nutrient digestibilities of growing pigs except for crude ash (CA). Between sexes, there were differences in nutrient digestibilities, except for calcium for which gilts showed higher a digestibility (p<0.01). Among dietary threonine:lysine ratios, there were no differences in nutrient digestibilities. Mean values of essential amino acids (EAA), non-essential amino acids (NEAA) and total amino acids (TAA) digestibilities were not affected by sex and dietary threonine:lysine ratio. There was no evidence of an interaction between sexes and dietary threonine:lysine ratio. Between sexes, total BUN concentration was lower in gilts than barrows (p<0.05). It was concluded that a 70 and 60% dietary threonine:lysine ratio for barrows (1.12% lysine) and gilts (1.33% lysine) tended to result in better growth performances and nutrient utilization and lower BUN concentration than other threonine:lysine ratios.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.802-810
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• 2000

A total of 120 finishing crossbred pigs ($Landrace{\times}Large$ $White{\times}Duroc$) with equal numbers of barrows and gilts weighing 58.5 kg body weight were used in a feeding trial, and 6 pigs (three of each sex) were used in a metabolic trial to investigate the effect of phase feeding. Finishing period was divided into two phases and 4 different diets were fed for those periods. Growth performance was not significantly different among treatments within the same sex. This result showed that 16% crude protein for early finishing period and 14% crude protein diet for late finishing period should be optimum. During the early finishing period, only feed intake was significantly different between sexes (p<0.01), but in late finishing period daily weight gain (p<0.001) and feed intake (p<0.01) of barrows were significantly higher than those of gilts. During the early finishing period, digestibilities of dry matter, protein and phosphorus were significantly higher in gilts than in barrows (p<0.05). However, there was no treatment effect within same sex during the early and late finishing period. During early finishing period, excretion of N of pigs fed 16% CP diet in early and 14% CP diet in late-finishing period was less than that of pigs fed 17% CP diet in early and 15% CP diet in late-finishing period (p<0.05), but the difference was not significant. During the late finishing period, N excretion with two phase feeding was reduced by 8.5% compared with single feeding. In gilts, total cost reduction by two phase feeding compared to single feeding was 9.1%, but in barrows it was just 3.19%. Relative margin increased with two phase feeding by 2.5% in gUts and 0.2% in barrows. There was a tendency that backfat thickness at 10th rib of gilts was thinner than that of barrows (p>0.05). Within the same sexes, there was no treatment effect on back fat thickness (p>0.05). Carcass grade was improved by two phase feeding compared to single feeding. Carcass grade of gilts was significantly better than that of barrows (p<0.001). From this results, it is concluded that finishing pigs could be fed two-phase diets to improve profit and reduce pollution.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1172-1180
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• 2013

Two experiments were conducted to determine the standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) requirement and the ideal SID threonine (Thr) to Lys ratio for finishing barrows. In Exp. 1, 120 barrows with an average body weight of $72.8{\pm}3.6$ kg were allotted to one of six dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design conducted for 35 d. Each diet was fed to five pens of pigs containing four barrows. A normal crude protein (CP) diet providing 15.3% CP and 0.71% SID Lys and five low CP diets providing 12% CP with SID Lys concentrations of 0.51, 0.61, 0.71, 0.81 and 0.91% were formulated. Increasing the SID Lys content of the diet resulted in an increase in weight gain (linear effect p = 0.04 and quadratic effect p = 0.08) and an improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR) (linear effect p = 0.02 and quadratic effect p = 0.02). For weight gain and FCR, the estimated SID Lys requirement of finishing barrows were 0.71 and 0.71% (linear broken-line analysis), 0.79 and 0.78% (quadratic analysis), respectively. Exp. 2 was a 26 d dose-response study using SID Thr to Lys ratios of 0.56, 0.61, 0.67, 0.72 and 0.77. A total of 138 barrows weighing $72.5{\pm}4.4$ kg were randomly allotted to receive one of the five diets. All diets were formulated to contain 0.61% SID Lys (10.5% CP), which is slightly lower than the pig's requirement. Weight gain was quadratically (p = 0.03) affected by SID Thr to Lys ratio while FCR was linearly improved (p = 0.02). The SID Thr to Lys ratios for maximal weight gain and minimal FCR and serum urea nitrogen (SUN) were 0.67, 0.71 and 0.64 using a linear broken-line model and 0.68, 0.78 and 0.70 using a quadratic model, respectively. Based on the estimates obtained from the broken-line and quadratic analysis, we concluded that the dietary SID Lys requirement for both maximum weight gain and minimum FCR was 0.75%, and an optimum SID Thr to Lys ratio was 0.68 to maximize weight gain, 0.75 to optimize FCR and 0.67 to minimize SUN for finishing barrows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.795-801
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• 2000

A total of 120 growing crossbred pigs ($Landrace{\times}Large$ $White{\times}Duroc$) with equal numbers of barrows and gilts were used in the feeding trial in a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement (gender by feeding regimens) to investigate the effect of phase feeding on growth performance during the 25 to 58 kg body weight growth stage, and 6 pigs (three of each sex) were used in a metabolic trial. The growing period was divided into two phases and 4 different CP diets were used to make 3 different feeding regimens (GE18-GL18; 18% CP diets for both early and later growing period, GE18-GL16; 18% CP diet for early and 16% CP diet for later growing period, GE19-GL17; 19% CP diet for early and 17% CP diet for later growing period). There were no significant differences in growth performance among treatments during the entire growing period. However, during the later growing period, feed intake of barrows was significantly higher than that of gilts (p<0.05). Average daily gain of barrows was higher than that of gilts (p>0.05). Based on the result, growth performance differences between barrows and gilts appeared to begin after 40 kg of body weight. There was no significant difference in digestibility among treatments or between sexes. During the early growing period the 18% CP diet showed better digestibility than the 19% CP diet. However, during the later growing period, the 18% and 17% CP diets exhibited similar digestibilities, although 16% CP diet showed slightly lower digestibility than 18% and 17% CP diets. During the early growing period, fecal N and P excretion of pigs fed the 19% CP were higher than that of those fed the 18% CP diet. During later growing period, fecal N and P excretion by those receiving the two phase feeding compared to single phase feeding was reduced by 10.2% and 2.0%, respectively. In the gilts, the cost reduction by two phase feeding (GE18-GL16) compared to single feeding was around 3.81%, but that of barrows was only 0.52%. The results suggested that the same nutrient levels could be applied to barrows and gilts during the growing period. Also, this study suggested the optimum protein and lysine level for early and later growing pigs to be 18% CP, 1.0% lysine and 16% CP, 0.8% lysine, respectively. Feeding two diets to growing pigs, i.e., two-phase feeding, would be more appropriate than feeding a single diet on economic and environmental considerations.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1214-1219
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• 2008

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing tuna oil to diets of growing-finishing pigs (barrows and gilts) on backfat characteristics when slaughtered at different weights. Four hundred and eighty crossbred (Large White$\times$Landrace$\times$Duroc) pigs averaging 30 kg were allotted to 12 treatment combinations (40 pigs/treatment combination) in a completely randomized design with a $2{\times}2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement of treatments. The treatments were: dietary tuna oil supplementation (0 and 2%); sex (barrows and gilts); and slaughter weight (90, 100 and 110 kg). As pigs reached their slaughter weight, they were randomly selected (8 pigs/treatment combination; 96 pigs in total) and slaughtered. Backfat colour, hardness and fatty acid profile were assessed. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in colour (L* and a* values) among treatments. Backfat of the control group was harder than on the tuna oil (p<0.001) and that of barrows was harder than of gilts (p<0.05). In addition, the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values of fat from the tuna oil group stored for 3 days were higher (p<0.001) than the control group. The TBARS values of gilts tended to be higher than those of barrows and increased with increasing slaughter weight in the tuna oil group. The cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not affected by diet and sex but the triglyceride level increased with increasing slaughter weight (p<0.01). The tuna oil group had higher polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, ratio of PUFA: saturated fatty acid (SFA) and total n-3 fatty acids but lower monounsaturated fatty acids content and n-6:n-3 fatty acids than the control group (p<0.01). Gilts had higher PUFA and n-6 fatty acids in backfat than barrows (p<0.05). The backfat from both 90 and 100 kg slaughter-weight groups had a lower ratio of n6:n3 fatty acid than the 110 kg slaughter-weight group (p<0.05). However, this was more pronounced in the tuna oil group. The PUFA: SFA was also increased while the n-6:n-3 ratio tended to reach the recommended levels for healthy eating in human beings of <5. However, due to oxidative susceptibility, barrows should not be slaughtered at more than 100 kg for the meat to be acceptable to consumers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.721-728
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• 2018

Objective: This experiment was conducted to determine the differences in the apparent ileal (AID) and total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients and indispensable amino acids (IAA) in high-fiber diets with wheat middlings, rice bran or alfalfa meal fed to Duroc${\times}$(Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire) (DLY) and Duroc${\times}$ (Berkshire${\times}$Jiaxing) (DBJ) growing barrows. Methods: Eighteen DLY and 18 DBJ growing barrows were randomly allotted to a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement involving 2 crossbreeds and 3 high-fiber diets. The experiment lasted 15 d with 10 d for diets adaptation, 3 d for feces collection and 2 d for digesta collection. Three diets were based on corn and soybean meal with 25% wheat middlings, rice bran and alfalfa meal respectively. Results: DBJ had a greater (p<0.05) AID of isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine and valine and a lower (p<0.05) AID of methionine than DLY. The hindgut disappearance of acid detergent fiber for DBJ was greater (p<0.05) than DLY. The ATTD of gross energy, dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber in wheat middlings diet were greater (p<0.05) than in rice bran and alfalfa meal diets. The hindgut disappearance of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber in wheat middlings diet or rice bran diet were the highest or lowest (p<0.05), and those of alfalfa meal diet were the middle. Barrows fed rice bran diet had a greater (p<0.05) hindgut disappearance of gross energy, dry matter and organic matter and lower hindgut disappearance of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber than barrows fed alfalfa meal diet Conclusion: DBJ growing barrows showed a significant higher digestibility of fiber in the hindgut and most IAA in the small intestine compared with DLY barrows. The digestibilities of chemical constituents and IAA were affected by the diets formulated with different fiber sources.