• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.343-346
• /
• 2001

During the period of January to December 2000, a total of 3,505 swine sera was collected from 208 farms, which are located throughout country, for the diagnosis of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome(PRRS). The antibody to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus(PRRS) was tested by indirect immunofluorescent antibody(IFA) test. Of 208 farms tested, at least one or more than one pigs was positive for PRRSV antibody in 188(90.4%) farms. The overall seroprevalence of PRRSV antibody was 45.1% (1581/3505). Most pigs were infected with PRRSV at around 50- to 60-day old. The seroprevalence of antibody varied with age. The highest seroprevalence of PRRSV antibody was observed in the growing pigs at around 80-day old. About one-thirds of adult pigs including boar, gilt and sow were positive to PRRSV antibody. In many farms, the infection of PRRSV was chronic and confined to grower and/or finisher. However, antibody was detected from all production phase in some farms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.12
• /
• pp.1832-1842
• /
• 2007

Cytochrome P450 aromatase is responsible for the biosynthesis of estrogen. It is also responsible for the endogenous production of 19-nortestosterone (nandrolone), an anabolic androgen unique to pigs. Plasma concentrations of 19-nortestosterone are highest between two and four weeks after birth in male pigs. In the present study, the physiology of 19-nortestosterone was investigated by measuring the mRNA levels of steroidogenic enzymes, estrogen receptors and androgen receptor in the tissues of growing pigs. The expression of aromatase, 17${\alpha}$-hydroxylase and 3${\beta}$-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the testes of male piglets increased between birth and two weeks of age, and then decreased progressively. Similar developmental expressional patterns were observed for 17${\alpha}$-hydroxylase and 3${\beta}$-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the ovaries of female piglets, but without significant aromatase expression. The major form of aromatase expressed in the testes of piglets was identified as type I. Expression of estrogen receptor-${\alpha}$ and -${\beta}$and androgen receptor genes was also detected in both testes and ovaries. A transient elevation of androgen receptor mRNA in male piglets at two weeks of age was also observed in testes. Significant expression of the androgen receptor gene, but not of estrogen receptor-${\alpha}$ and -${\beta}$ genes, was also demonstrated in adipose tissue and muscle. We conclude that the observed increase in the testicular expression of aromatase in male pigs could account for the production of large amounts of 19-nortestosterone at between two and four weeks of age in males. Androgen receptor and 19-nortestosterone appeared to be important for testicular development and might contribute to sexual dimorphism in body composition and muscle development in juvenile pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.197-202
• /
• 1999

Three barrows weighing 45.0 kg, fitted with simple T-cannulas in both the duodenum and terminal ileum, were assigned to diets in a $3{\times}3$ Latin Square design experiment to determine the effect of two calcium levels (0.8% vs 0.4%) on phytase activity and nutrient balance in growing pigs. The control diet contained 0.8% calcium, with no added inorganic phosphorus (0.45% total phosphorus) and no added phytase. The two additional experimental diets contained microbial phytase (750 phytase units/kg) and supplied either 0.8% or 0.4% calcium. With added microbial phytase, ileal and total tract digestibility of rotal phosphorus were improved by 20.9 and 13.8 percentage units, respectively (p=0.01). The apparent duodenal and ileal digestibility of phytate phosphorus were increased by 51.8 and 49.7 percentage units (p=0.01). Lowering dietary calcium in the presence of microbial phytase increased the digestibility of phytate phosphorus by an additional 10.9 (p=0.001) and 5.7 percentage units for duodenal and ileal digestibility, respectively. Supplementation with microbial phytase significantly reduced fecal excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus and increased the percentage of these nutrients retained by the pig. Lowering dietary calcium further increased the percentage of dietary phosphorus retained. Overall, reducing dietary calcium appeared to increase the effectiveness of added microbial phytase in degrading phytate phosphorus. As a result, care should be taken to avoid high levels of dietary calcium when supplementing swine diets with microbial phytase.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.122-133
• /
• 1997

Purified diets containing 5 graded levels of threonine were fed to young, growing and finishing pigs to determine the threonine requirement for growth and maintenance. A model was developed to subdivide the threonine requirement for the maintenance from the requirement for growth. From this model, the threonine requirement for growth was 7.733, 10.968 and 11.235 g/kg live weight gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.118, 0.048 and 0.024 g per unit of metabolic body size at each stage of growth, respectively. In the young pigs, the threonine requirement for growth was 0.388 g/g N gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.122 g per unit of metabolic body size. The breakpoint of plasma threonine concentrations was 3.995, 7.933 and 7.738 g/d, respectively. Expected requirements obtained from these formulae were in general agreement with previous estimates. Based on the weight gain vs N gain equation, about 4.24% of the retained protein was comprised of threonine and compared to 3.81%, the mean threonine content of pig muscle CP.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.86-97
• /
• 1997

Purified diets containing 5 graded levels of methionine + cystine were fed to young, growing and finishing pigs to determine the methionine + cystine requirement for growth and maintenance. A model was developed to subdivide the methionine + cystine requirement for maintenance from requirement for growth. From this model, the methionine + cystine requirement for growth was 8.633, 10.260 and 9.293 g/kg live weight gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.049, 0.016 and 0.019 g per unit of metabolic body size at each stage of growth, respectively. In the young pigs, the methionine + cystine requirement for growth was 0.491 g/g N gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.059 g per unit of metabolic body size. The breakpoint of plasma methionine + cystine concentrations was 3.888, 6.935 and 8.116 g/d, respectively. Expected requirements obtained from these formulae were in general agreement with previous estimates. Based on the weight gain vs N gain equation, about 4.44% of the retained protein was comprised of methionine + cystine and compared to 3.31%, the mean methionine + cystine content of pig muscle CP.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.54-63
• /
• 1997

Purified diets containing 5 graded levels of lysine were fed to young and growing pigs to determine the lysine requirement for growth and maintenance. A model was developed to subdivide the lysine requirement for the maintenance from requirement for growth. From this model, the lysine requirement for growth was 18.018 and 19.431 g/kg live weight gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.115 and 0.033 g per unit of metabolic body size at each stage of growth, respectively. In the young pigs, the lysine requirement for growth was 0.950 g/g N gain and the maintenance requirement was 0.114 g per unit of metabolic body size. The breakpoint of plasma lysine concentrations was 8.695 and 13.464 g/d, respectively. Expected requirements obtained from these formulae were in general agreement with previous estimates. Based on weight gain vs N gain equation, about 7.92% of the retained protein was comprised of lysine as compared to 7.11%, the mean lysine content of pig muscle CP.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.1756-1760
• /
• 2016

Estimation of feed intake (FI) for individual animals within a pen is needed in situations where more than one animal share a feeder during feeding trials. A partitioning method (PM) was previously published as a model to estimate the individual FI (IFI). Briefly, the IFI of a pig within the pen was calculated by partitioning IFI into IFI for maintenance ($IFI_m$) and IFI for growth. In the PM, $IFI_m$ is determined based on the metabolic body weight (BW), which is calculated using the coefficient of 106 and exponent of 0.75. Two simulation studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that the use of different coefficients and exponents for metabolic BW to calculate $IFI_m$ improves the accuracy of the estimates of IFI for pigs, and that PM is applied to pigs fed in group-housing systems. The accuracy of prediction represented by difference between actual and estimated IFI was compared using PM, ratio (RM), or averaging method (AM). In simulation studies 1 and 2, the PM estimated IFI better than the AM and RM during most of the periods (p<0.05). The use of 0.60 as the exponent and the coefficient of 197 to calculate metabolic BW did not improve the accuracy of the IFI estimates in both simulation studies 1 and 2. The results imply that the use of $197kcal{\times}kg\;BW^{0.60}$ as metabolizable energy for maintenance in PM does not improve the accuracy of IFI estimations compared with the use of $106kcal{\times}kg\;BW^{0.75}$ and that the PM estimates the IFI of pigs with greater accuracy compared with the averaging or ratio methods in group-housing systems.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 1991

Four fibrous feedstuffs from alfalfa meal (AFM), cassava leaf meal (CLM), rubber seed meal (RSM) and leucaena meal (LM) were included in semi-purified diets for growing pig (45 kg body wt.) at 20%, to investigate the effects of these fiber sources and fractions on amino acid digestibility. Cellulose (C), a purified fiber source was included in another diet at 5% level for comparison. The barrows fitted with ileal T-cannula were used in the digestion trials with latin square design. The digestibilities of amino acids were measured at both terminal ileum and fecal level. NDF and hemicellulose content were the highest in AFM-diet whereas LM-diet had the highest ADF and lignin content. RSM-diet contained the highest crude fiber and cellulose content. The digestibilities of amino acids at ileal level were found the highest with CLM-diet, while LM-diet was the least. At fecal level, control diet and CLM-diet were the highest in amino acid digestibility while AFM-diet was the least. The digestibility of amino acids was higher at ileal than fecal level. The digestibility of arginine was not affected with fiber fractions but was found to be the most disestible across all diets. The most depressed amino acid was methionine at both levels; praline and glycine, in the dispensable amino acid group, were depressed at ileal and fecal level, respectively. Lignin did not depress amino acid digestibility in general but specifically depressed methionine, histidine, isoleucine and threonine digestibility. Cellulose content did not affect amino acid digestibility but undesirable factors might be responsible.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.699-707
• /
• 1996

This study was designed to examine the involvement of lead in function of target organ, and the protective effect of selenium in lead-treated guinea pigs for 8 weeks. The effects of exposure to 0.5% lead acetate(lead) and/or 4ppm sodium selenite(selenium) in feed on serveral aspects were evaluated by measuring thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH), triiodothyronine($T_3$), thyroxine($T_4$), serum biochemical activities, organ weights, and serum and organ lead concentrations in growing animals. The many indicators of endocrine function(TSH, $T_3$, and $T_4$ in serum), enzyme and biochemical activities(${\alpha}$-glutamyltranspeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, triglyceride, creatinine, $Ca^{2+}$ in serum), and organ weights(kidney, spleen and testis) were correlated with lead exposure or showed significantly different mean values between the exposed and controls. These changes on some aspects were reversed by combination-fed of selenium, but did not statistically significant. The organ(kidney, liver, spleen, testis and brain) and serum lead concentrations of lead-fed group were clearly higher than that of controls. Selenium supplementation resulted in a significant protection against lead accumulation in liver and testis. These results suggest that lead can cause a toxic effect on several organ and that selenium seems to has a protective effect on specific reaction by lead-induced organic function toxicity.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.97-104
• /
• 1997

This research was carried out to determine the effect of dietary calcium(Ca) levels(low : 0.29, medium : 0.65 and high : 1.07%) on the digestibility, excretion and retention of nitrogen(N) phosphorus (P) in pigs fed diets supplemented with phytase(750U/kg). Twelve growing-finishing pigs(average body weight: 35kg) were divided into 3 groups and these pigs were reared in metabolism cage. After 10 days adaptation period, N and P balance experiments were carried out for 4 days. The results were summarized as follows ; 1. The High-Ca group was lower than the others in digestibility of P(Low-Ca and Medium-Ca group). 2. The amount of daily excretion of urinary N were 19.6g in Low-Ca group and 16.7g in high-Ca group. The High-Ca group was the lowest(22.71%/d) in the total N excretion. 3. The High-Ca group was the highest and the Low-Ca group the lowest in fecal P excretion. The urinary P excretions per day were 1.90g in Low-Ca group and 0.04g in High-Ca group. The medium-Ca group showed the lowest total P excretion(4.57g/d). 4. The N retention of the High-Ca group(20.50g) was greater than that of the Low-Ca group and Medium-Ca(5.02)g was the highest and the Low-Ca groups(3.92g) was the lowest in the P retention. These results indicate that dietary Ca level was an important factor influencing N and P utilization in pigs.