• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1067-1074
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• 2023

Objective: Better feed efficiency can be achieved by selecting rabbit genotypes with lower residual feed intake (RFI) under high ambient temperatures. Methods: Two genotypes of rabbits (Jabali, Saudi local breed and imported, Spanish V-line) were used to derive RFI and to investigate the relationship between RFI and productive traits. In total, 250 animals (125 each) were housed in individual wire mesh cages in a semi-closed rabbitry. Growth performance, feed criteria, carcass evaluation, biochemical blood analysis, and immune responses were determined. Results: Superiority in growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass characteristics, and cellular immunity was recorded in the Jabali breed compared to the V-line genotype. According to regression analysis, a significant effect of daily body weight gain was found, upon computing the expected feed intake in both genotypes. Moreover, mid-body weight^0.75 had a significant effect only in the Jabali breed. Positive correlation coefficients between RFI and dry matter feed intake or feed conversion ratio were found. The same trend in this relationship between RFI and productive traits was observed in some cases for both genotypes. An opposite trend in correlations was observed in the studied genotypes for some traits. Conclusion: The results suggest that the relationship between RFI and productive traits must be taken into consideration in rabbit breeding programs under the prevailing environment. However, further studies are required to investigate the effect of rabbit genotype and environmental factors on computing RFI.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2003

Genetic parameters for growth and carcass traits were estimated on the basis of the data from 3,415 heads of Hanwoo bulls tested at Livestock Improvement Main Center. The data were divided into two groups : the first period group consisted of 1,592 heads of bulls tested in individual pens from 1986 to 1990 and the second period group consisted of 1,823 heads of bulls tested in group pens from 1991 to 1996. The testing period was from 6 to 18 months of age in the first period group and 10 to 22 months of age in the second period group. The average daily gains during 6 to 12 months and 12 to 18 months were 1.01kg and 0.77kg, respectively, in the first period group and 0.80kg and 0.95kg in the second period group, and the compensated growth appeared to have occurred in the second period group. The heritability of body weight at 12 months estimated was 0.37 during the first period and 0.47 during the second period. The heritability of body weight at 18 months was 0.29 during the first period and 0.33 during the second period. The heritability of average daily gain during 6${\sim}$12 months estimated was 0.26 for the first period and 0.33 for the second period. The heritability of average daily gain during 12${\sim}$18 months estimated was 0.11 for the first period and 0.22 for the second period. The heritabilities of body weights and average daily gains estimated tended to be higher in the second period than in the first period. The heritability of body measurements at 12 months during the first period estimated was 0.30 for withers height, 0.25 for rump height, 0.11 for thurls width and 0.13 for chest girth. The heritability of body measurments at 12 months during the second period was 0.53 for withers height, 0.44 for rump height, 0.36 for thurls width and 0.56 for chest girth. The heritabilites of withers height, rump height, thurls width and chest girth at 18 months of age were 0.40, 0.22, 0.12 and 0.21 during the first period and 0.45, 0.42, 0.42 and 0.35 during the second period, respectively. The heritability of carcass traits estimated during the first period was 0.11 for carcass weight, 0.24 for dressing percent, 0.25 for eye muscle area, 0.18 for backfat thickness and 0.21 for carcass length. The heritabilities of carcass weight, dressing percent, eye muscle area, backfat thickness, carcass length and marbling score during the second period estimated were 0.32, 0.52, 0.33, 0.51, 0.58 and 0.31, respectively. The genetic correlations between the first and second periods estimated were higher than 0.8 for chest girth at 12 months, rump height at 18 months, carcass weight and dressing percent, but were lower for other traits.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.591-599
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• 2009

Genetic parameters for growth-related traits were estimated in 9-month old of two Korean abalone subspecies, Haliotis discus hannai and H. discus discus, using multiple traits of animal model. The data were collected from the records of 3,504 individuals produced from 16 sires and 17 dams in H. discus hannai and 821 individuals produced from 3 sires and 4 dams in H. discus discus, which was evaluated at the Bukjeju branch, NFRDI, from May 20, 2004 to February 14, 2005. The heritability estimates obtained from restricted maximum likelihood (REML) method range from 0.29 to 0.31 for three growth traits (shell length, shell width and body weight) in H. discus hannai and from 0.22 to 0.28 in H. discus discus, respectively. The heritabilities for shell shape and condition factor were lower than others of growth traits such as ranging from 0.03 to 0.24 in H. discus hannai and from 0.06 to 0.11 in H. discus discus, respectively. Genetic and phenotypic correlations were >0.91 between shell parameters and weight in two abalone subspecies, respectively, indicating that breeding for weight gains could be successfully achieved by selecting for shell length.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.537-542
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• 2011

Biological or physiological genes that regulate metabolism and energy partitioning have the potential to influence economically important traits such as carcass and meat quality traits in beef cattle. The neuropeptide Y (NPY) functions as a central appetite stimulator and plays a major role in feed intake and energy-balance control. Therefore, the NPY gene is an excellent biological and physiological candidate gene for body weight, feeding, fatness or growth related traits in beef cattle. The objective of this study was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the NPY gene and to evaluate the association of NPY SNP markers with carcass and meat quality traits in Korean cattle. The genomic region (711 bp) including intron 2 of NPY gene was amplified and sequenced, and five SNPs, g.4389 Del(C), g.4371Del(C), g.4271T>C, g.1899A>G and g.1517A>C, were identified. The PCR-RFLP method was then developed to genotype the individuals examined. The g.4271T>C SNP was significantly associated with M. Longissimus dori area (LDA) value (p<0.027). Animals with the TT ($78.144{\pm}0.950\;cm^2$) genotype had higher LDA than those with the CC ($72.266{\pm}2.039\;cm^2$), and animals with TC genotype showed intermediate value. This SNP genotype also showed a highly significant additive genetic effect for the LDA (p<0.01). No significant associations, however, was detected between any of the SNP genotype and other carcass traits measured in this study. In conclusion, SNP genotype of the NPY gene may be used as DNA markers to select animals that have a higher meat yield.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.572-576
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• 2020

As grouper aquaculture production intensifies worldwide, hybrids are increasingly produced to induce heterosis of traits such as rapid growth and strong environmental adaptability. In this study, we compared the morphological characteristics of a hybrid grouper to those of its parent species Epinephelus moara and E. lanceolatus. The coefficients of external and skeletal traits evaluated using soft X-rays did not differ significantly among groups; however, several patterns were detected among measured traits. The body depth (BD), length of caudal peduncle (LCP), and pre-anal fin length (PAL) of the hybrid were the same as those of E. moara, whereas the pre-pectoral fin length (PPL) and interorbital width (IOW) of the hybrid were the same as those of E. lanceolatus. Traits that did not differ significantly among the three groups included pre-dorsal fin length (PDL), pre-ventral fin length (PVL), length of anal fin (LAF), and length of dorsal fin (LDF), whereas the depth of caudal peduncle (DCP) and snout length (SNL) showed intermediate traits, and eye diameter (ED) was significantly smaller in the hybrid. Therefore, intermediate traits such as DCP and SNL and specific traits such as ED may be used as indices for hybrid classification.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.467-473
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• 2010

A total of 4,323,781 records for informal 16 primary linear descriptive traits of dairy cows in Holstein breed from 1988 to 2007 in USA were analyzed to estimate adjustment factors for lactation number and stage. While all factors in the model were highly significant (P < 0.01), major influences on linear type traits were due to lactation number and stage. The frequencies of lactation number 1 through 6 were 58.6, 22.0, 11.8, 4.8, 2.1, and 0.8%, respectively. Further, the frequencies of lactation stage were 0.7, 76.9, 15.3, 4.9, and 2.1%, respectively, for springing, early, medium, late, and dry. To adjust 16 linear traits (stature, dairy form, strength, body depth, rump width, rump angle, legs rear view, leg set, foot angle, fore udder, rear udder height, rear udder width, udder support, udder depth, and front teat placement), additive and multiplicative adjustment factors of lactation number (lactations 2 to 4) and stage (springing, medium, late and dry) were estimated with the solutions in the generalized linear model, assigning lactation 1 and stage early as base class. Additive adjustment factors of lactation number ranged from -1.23 to 2.908, while multiplicative factors ranged from 0.853 to 2.207. Further, additive and multiplicative adjustment factors for lactation stage ranged from -0.668 to 0.785, and from 0.891 to 1.154. Application of adjustment factors to 20 randomly sampled sub-data sets produced the results that additive adjustment factors for both lactation number and stage reduced more mean square of lactation number and stage over 16 linear traits than any combination of adjustments, and leaded additive adjustment factors for both lactation number and stage as a choice of methods for adjustment of informal 16 primary linear type traits collected by classifiers of AI studs.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.137-148
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• 2021

The present study investigated the effect of average daily gain (ADG) on carcass traits of Hanwoo steers. A total of 233 heads of Hanwoo steer slaughtered from 2017 to 2020 were employed in the analysis. Their body weight profiles during feedlot and carcass traits were used. The entire feedlot period is split into two periods. ADG during the first period (ADG1) was then defined as an independent variable in statistical analysis. In the meantime, it was examined that how the cutoff month for the period split altered the significance of the effect of ADG1 on carcass traits. Subsequently, steers were assigned to two groups (High vs. Low) based on the median of total ADG1, and we compared the carcass traits of each group using a linear mixed model. ADG1 during 10 to 23 months showed a significant effect on all carcass traits except the marbling score. ADG1 significantly influenced carcass weight and eye muscle area of Hanwoo steers. And it was found that greater ADG1 could get greater carcass weight and eye muscle area (p<0.001). The result of this study provides preliminary information for the target month in the calculation of ADG1 mostly influencing carcass performance, and feeding strategy of Hanwoo steer in terms of sustainability.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.471-481
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• 2021

Objective: A comprehensive study was conducted to study the effects of partition of variance on accuracy of genetic parameters and genetic trends of economic traits in Vanaraja male line/project directorate-1 (PD-1) chicken. Methods: Variance component analysis utilizing restricted maximum likelihood animal model was carried out with five generations data to delineate the population status, direct additive, maternal genetic, permanent environmental effects, besides genetic trends and performance of economic traits in PD-1 chickens. Genetic trend was estimated by regression of the estimated average breeding values (BV) on generations. Results: The body weight (BW) and shank length (SL) varied significantly (p≤0.01) among the generations, hatches and sexes. The least squares mean of SL at six weeks, the primary trait was 77.44±0.05 mm. All the production traits, viz., BWs, age at sexual maturity, egg production (EP) and egg weight were significantly influenced by generation. Model four with additive, maternal permanent environmental and residual effects was the best model for juvenile growth traits, except for zero-day BW. The heritability estimates for BW and SL at six weeks (SL6) were 0.20±0.03 and 0.17±0.03, respectively. The BV of SL6 in the population increased linearly from 0.03 to 3.62 mm due to selection. Genetic trend was significant (p≤0.05) for SL6, BW6, and production traits. The average genetic gain of EP40 for each generation was significant (p≤0.05) with an average increase of 0.38 eggs per generation. The average inbreeding coefficient was 0.02 in PD-1 line. Conclusion: The population was in ideal condition with negligible inbreeding and the selection was quite effective with significant genetic gains in each generation for primary trait of selection. The animal model minimized the over-estimation of genetic parameters and improved the accuracy of the BV, thus enabling the breeder to select the suitable breeding strategy for genetic improvement.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1529-1535
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• 2013

The TBC1D1 plays a key role in body energy homeostasis by regulating the insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. The present study aimed to identify the association between genetic polymorphisms of TBC1D1 and body weight (BW) in rabbits. Among the total of 12 SNPs detected in all 20 exons, only one SNP was non-synonymous (c.214G>A. p.G72R) located in exon 1. c.214G>A was subsequently genotyped among 491 individuals from two rabbit breeds by the high-resolution melting method. Allele A was the predominant allele with frequencies of 0.7780 and 0.6678 in European white rabbit (EWR, n = 205) and New Zealand White rabbit (NZW, n = 286), respectively. The moderate polymorphism information content (0.250.05). Our results implied that the c.214G>A of TBC1D1 gene might be one of the candidate loci affecting the trait of 35 d BW in the rabbit.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.285-289
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• 2015

Body and carcass weights are always being main focus in poultry industry. The aim of current study was to estimate the heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of growth-related traits in Korean native chicken. A total of 596 chickens representing five lines of Korean native chicken (Black, Gray-Brown, Red-Brown, White, and Yellow-Brown) were reared under the standard breeding procedures in the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS), Korea. Their body weights were observed every two weeks from hatched to 20 weeks of age. In addition, shank length and carcass weight were also measured before and after slaughter, respectively. The ASReml-R program was used to compute genetic parameters. The body weight traits were moderate to high heritability values (ranged 0.29~0.63). The heritablilites of carcass weight ($h^2=0.20$) and shank length ($h^2=0.20$) were categorized as moderate. Moreover, both genetic and phenotypic correlations were ranged form 0.62 to 0.99 and ranged from 0.42 to 0.98, respectively. These findings can be useful information for quantitative genetic studies and breeding plan of Korean native chicken.