• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1062-1062
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• 2001

The concept of “precision agriculture” or “site-specific farming” is usually confined to the fields of soil science, crop science and agronomy. However, because plants grow in soil, animals eat plants, and humans eat animal products, it could be argued (perhaps with some poetic licence) that the fields of feed quality, animal nutrition and animal production should also be considered in this context. NIR spectroscopy has proved over the last 20 years that it can provide a firm foundation for quality measurement across all of these fields, and with the continuing developments in instrumentation, computer capacity and software, is now a major cog in the wheel of precision agriculture. There have been a few giant leaps and a lot of small steps in the impact of NIR on the animal world. These have not been confined to the amazing advances in hardware and software, although would not have occurred without them. Rapid testing of forages, grains and mixed feeds by NIR for nutritional value to livestock is now commonplace in commercial laboratories world-wide. This would never have been possible without the pioneering work done by the USDA NIR Forage Research Network in the 1980's, following the landmark paper of Norris et al. in 1976. The advent of calibration transfer between instruments, algorithms which utilize huge databases for calibration and prediction, and the ability to directly scan whole grains and fresh forages can also be considered as major steps, if not leaps. More adventurous NIR applications have emerged in animal nutrition, with emphasis on estimating the functional properties of feeds, such as in vivo digestibility, voluntary intake, protein degradability and in vitro assays to simulate starch digestion. The potential to monitor the diets of grazing animals by using faecal NIR spectra is also now being realized. NIR measurements on animal carcasses and even live animals have also been attempted, with varying degrees of success, The use of discriminant analysis in these fields is proving a useful tool. The latest giant leap is likely to be the advent of relatively low-cost, portable and ultra-fast diode array NIR instruments, which can be used “on-site” and also be fitted to forage or grain harvesters. The fodder and livestock industries are no longer satisfied with what we once thought was revolutionary: a 2-3 day laboratory turnaround for fred quality testing. This means that the instrument needs to be taken to the samples rather than vice versa. Considerable research is underway in this area, but the challenge of calibration transfer and maintenance of instrument networks of this type remains. The animal world is currently facing its biggest challenges ever; animal welfare, alleged effects of animal products on human health, environmental and economic issues are difficult enough, but the current calamities of BSE and foot and mouth disease are “the last straw” NIR will not of course solve all these problems, but is already proving useful in some of these areas and will continue to do so.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1038-1048
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• 2021

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of storage time and formic acid (FA) on fermentation characteristics, epiphytic microflora, carbohydrate components and in vitro digestibility of rice straw silage. Methods: Fresh rice straw was ensiled with four levels of FA (0%, 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% of fresh weight) for 3, 6, 9, 15, 30, and 60 d. At each time point, the silos were opened and sampled for chemical and microbial analyses. Meanwhile, the fresh and 60-d ensiled rice straw were further subjected to in vitro analyses. Results: The results showed that 0.2% and 0.6% FA both produced well-preserved silages with low pH value and undetected butyric acid, whereas it was converse for 0.4% FA. The populations of enterobacteria, yeasts, moulds and aerobic bacteria were suppressed by 0.2% and 0.6% FA, resulting in lower dry matter loss, ammonia nitrogen and ethanol content (p<0.05). The increase of FA linearly (p<0.001) decreased neutral detergent fibre and hemicellulose, linearly (p<0.001) increased residual water soluble carbohydrate, glucose, fructose and xylose. The in vitro gas production of rice straw was decreased by ensilage but the initial gas production rate was increased, and further improved by FA application (p<0.05). No obvious difference of FA application on in vitro digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, and acid detergent fibre was observed (p>0.05). Conclusion: The 0.2% FA application level promoted lactic acid fermentation while 0.6% FA restricted all microbial fermentation of rice straw silages. Rice straw ensiled with 0.2% FA or 0.6% FA improved its nutrient preservation without affecting digestion, with the 0.6% FA level best.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 1985

For better grassland development in the forest, this field experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of thirteen different fertilizer levels of nitrogen(N), phosphorus ($P_2O_5$) and potassium ($K_2O$) on the botanical composition, growth and dry matter yield of grass-clover mixtures grown under trees with 40-50% of shading level. This experiment was arranged as a randomized block design with replications, and performed on the experimental field in the suburban forest of Suweon in 1984. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Plant height and cover degree of grasses found to be high with 28 and 42kg N fertilizer per 10a, while those were the lowest with zero and N-zero fertilizer levels. The degree of bare land after the fourth cut was also high in the low N level. 2. A significant higher degree of leaf green and chlorophyll content of leaf blade was observed in the plot of 28 and 42 kg N per 10a when compared with low N fertilizer plot. However, leaf decay and plant type of grasses tended to be a little poor as the high N was applied. 3. the regrowth plant length and dry weight of grasses after the first cut increased significantly with 28 and 42 kg N fertilizer. However, those showed slightly increased regrowth in the plot of zero and N-zero fertilizer levels. 4. The dry matter yield of grasses was higher with 28 and 42 kg N than that of low N fertilizer level. Higher yields were obtained in the plot of standard ($N-P_2O_5-K_2O$=28-20-24 kg/10a), 50% increase of $N,P_2O_5K_2O$ and N-50% increase, although there were no significant differences among three fertilizer levels. 5. Growth, botanical composition, regrowth and yield of grasses grown under pine trees were significantly influenced by N fertilizer level, regardless of $P_2O_5\;and\;K_2O$. The fertilizer level of $N-P_2O_5-K_2O$ was 28-20-24 kg per 10a for more forage production in the forest. Considering economic yield in this study, however, the optimum fertilizer level of N, $P_2O_5\;and\;K_2O$ was suppose to be 21-28, 10-15, and 12-18kg per 10a, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1705-1714
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• 2019

Objective: Reducing roughage feeding without negatively affecting rumen health is of interest in ruminant nutrition. We investigated the effects of roughage sources and concentrate types on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, and blood metabolite levels in growing cattle. Methods: In this 24-week trial, 24 Hanwoo cattle ($224{\pm}24.7kg$) were fed similar nitrous and energy levels of total mixed ration formulated using two kinds of roughage (timothy hay and ryegrass straw) and two types of concentrate mixes (high starch [HS] and high fiber [HF]). The treatments were arranged in a $2{\times}2$ factorial, consisting of 32% timothy-68% HS, 24% timothy-76% HF, 24% ryegrass-76% HS, and 17% ryegrass-83% HF. Daily feed intakes were measured. Every four weeks, blood were sampled, and body weight was measured before morning feeding. Every eight weeks, rumen fluid was collected using a stomach tube over five consecutive days. Results: The mean dry matter intake (7.33 kg) and average daily gain (1,033 g) did not differ among treatments. However, significant interactions between roughage source and concentrate type were observed for the rumen and blood parameters (p<0.05). Total volatile fatty acid concentration was highest (p<0.05) in timothy-HF-fed calves. With ryegrass as the roughage source, decreasing the roughage inclusion rate increased the molar proportion of propionate and decreased the acetate-to-propionate ratio; the opposite was observed with timothy as the roughage source. Similarly, the effects of concentrate types on plasma total protein, alanine transaminase, Ca, inorganic P, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and creatinine concentrations differed with roughage source (p<0.05). Conclusion: Decreasing the dietary roughage inclusion rate by replacing forage neutral detergent fiber with that from non-roughage fiber source might be a feasible feeding practice in growing cattle. A combination of low-quality roughage with a high fiber concentrate might be economically beneficial.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.211-216
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• 2009

Approximately 43 million tons of livestock manure (LM) are produced each year on Korean farms. LM can be utilized as a valuable resource and/or it can contaminate water by runoff and leaching through the soil, when LM has been thoughtlessly applied to the land and directly discharged into the water. This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of no-till system and LM application on dry matter (DM) yield of silage corn and $NO_3$-N concentration in leaching water of lysimeter installed in the experimental field. The treatments were replicated three times in split plot design. Main plots consisted of tillage systems, such as conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT). Sub plots consisted of the type of LM, such as chemical fertilizer (CF), composted cattle manure (CCM) and composted swine manure (CSM). The control plots were fertilized as commercial chemical fertilizer. DM yields of corn increased significantly in order to CF > CCM > CSM (p<0.05). DM yield of corn in CT increased as comparing with that of corn in NT. Plant height, ear height and stem diameter also increased in order to CF > CCM > CSM. In addition, the root weight in CT was increased as comparing with that of corn in NT. However, there was no interaction effects of between type of LM and tillage system. $NO_3$-N concentration in leaching water of LM application was less than 10 ppm, but $NO_3$-N concentration in CF exceeded 10 ppm which is safety level of drinking water during summer time (rainfall season).