• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.644-658
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• 2021

Understanding the functional traits of dominant species in urban ecosystems provides insight into species' trait adaptation and ecosystem function in response to fragmented and isolated urban vegetation and reduced biological interactions. This study compared means and variances of environmental factors (geographic, meteorological, and soil attributes) and 4 leaf traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry mass content, and leaf shape index) and 7 reproductive traits (fruit width, fruit length, fruit shape, fruit dry weight, fruit dry matter content, seed weight, and seed ratio) measured of 40 Sorbus alnifolia individuals in four mountainous areas south of Seoul downtown, South Korea. We then performed the multivariate analysis of trait combinations. While the measured environmental factors indicated the individuality of the survey sites, the urban vegetation was drier and had a longer growth period. The leaves of S. alnifolia in the urban areas were smaller and heavier, and the fruits produced longer and lighter seeds, showing the traits affected by long urbanization. The study confirmed changes in the growth and reproduction mechanism of the S. alnifolia population under the urban environment, indicating reduced biological interaction due to vegetation fragmentation and isolation. This study provides limited but distinct ecological information about the function and persistence of key species in cities with a reduced scale of biological interactions and many negative environmental factors such as air pollution.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1911-1920
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• 2022

Objective: This study was performed to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME_n) content of tannin-free red/bronze, white/tan and U.S. No. 2 varieties of grain sorghum for feeding Japanese quail and validate their nutrient profile by evaluating effects on performance and carcass traits with full-substitution of corn. Methods: Experiment 1 determined the AME_n content of red/bronze, white/tan, and U.S. No. 2 grain sorghum varieties fed to mixed-sex Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) (n = 314) at 3 and 6-weeks of age. Analyses were based on a 2×4 factorial treatment design with age and grain types defining the treatments, and a randomized complete block experiment design with cage and trials defining the block. AME_n values were validated by evaluating the performance and carcass traits of Japanese quail (n = 644) from 1 to 40 days of age in Experiment 2 with birds were fed 1 of 4 complete diets. Statistical analyses were conducted on performance data and select individual carcass trait measurements. Results: Determined AME_n values at 3-weeks of age were 3,524±122.03 (red/bronze), 3,252±122.03 (white/tan), and 3,039±123.44 (U.S. No. 2) kcal/kg. At 6-weeks of age, determined AME_n were 3,373±297.35 (red/bronze), 3,279±297.35 (white/tan), and 2,966±298.64 (U.S. No. 2) kcal/kg. Carcass traits showed live body weight (p = 0.0409) and hot carcass weight (p = 0.0234) were greatest in U.S. No. 2; however, carcass yield (p<0.0001) was lowest. No significant differences were observed among treatments for feed intake, feed conversion ratio, breast weight and breast yield (p>0.05). Conclusion: These studies demonstrated that tannin-free grain sorghum varieties may be a potential alternative to corn in quail diets while maintaining growth performance and carcass parameters.

• 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 CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2006

Improvement of crop yield can be achieved through understanding genetic variation in reproductive characters and its impact on yield components. The present study was performed to evaluate genetic diversity for reproductive growth characters in exotic germplasm resources and to determine the relationships between developmental and growth periods with yield and yield components in soybean cultivar groups. For phenotypic evaluation such as reproductive and agronomic traits, a total of 80 indigenous and exotic soybean cultivars collected from four different geographical regions (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) were grown from May to November of 2003 at the Seoul National University Farm, Suwon, Korea ($127^{\circ}02'E$ longitude, $37^{\circ}26'N$ latitude). Most of all the characters exhibited wide range of phenotypic variation, of which pod number, seed number, and plant yield showed greater range as compared to other characters. Korean cultivar groups showed greater diversity than the other cultivar groups in seven characters. Correlation analysis showed that days to flowering (DTF) and days to maturity (DTM) had close association with agronomic traits as well as yield and yield components. Both DTF and DTM had positive correlation with the other characters except one hundred seed weight. Stepwise multiple linear regression revealed that seed and pod number were identified as being significant for plant yield. The results in this study indicated wide variation in agronomic traits including DTF and DTM, suggesting the valuable genetic resources in a soybean breeding program.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 2018

Objective: Piglet pre-weaning mortality is an important variable indicating the efficacy of farrowing management and animal well-being during lactation. The present study determined the association of newborn traits measured soon after birth with piglet pre-weaning mortality and growth. Methods: In total, 805 piglets born from 57 multiparous sows were investigated. Their blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose and rectal temperature at 24 h after birth (RT24h) were monitored. Birth order, sex, skin color, integrity of the umbilical cord, attempts to stand and birth intervention were monitored. Piglets were weighed at day 0, 7, and 21 to evaluate average daily gain (ADG). Results: Piglet pre-weaning mortality for lactation period was 12.6% and cumulative mortality during the first 7 days of age was 8.6%. A higher proportion of piglets with pale skin color died compared to piglets with normal skin color (26.7% vs 7.7%, p<0.001). A higher (p<0.001) proportion of piglets that attempted to stand after 5 min (38.5%) died compared to piglets that attempted to stand within 1 min (6.3%) after birth. Piglet body weight at birth ($BW_B$), blood glucose and the number of piglets born alive (BA) were correlated with ADG (p<0.05). Piglets with $BW_B$ <1.30 kg had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate than piglets with $BW_B{\geq}1.80 kg$ (19.0% vs 3.3%) and piglets with $BW_B$ 1.30 to 1.79 kg (4.0%). Piglet with RT24h <$37.0^{\circ}C$ had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate (86.2%) than piglets with RT24h >$38.5^{\circ}C$ (3.9%). Conclusion: Low $BW_B$ and low RT24h compromise piglet survival during the lactation period in the tropical conditions. Piglets in the litters with a high BA, low $BW_B$ and low blood glucose have reduced ADG.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2016

Twenty crossbred steers ($400{\pm}40.1kg$ of initial body weight) were used to assess the effects of a dietary supplementation with crude glycerin (CG) as a substitute for corn grain on performance, carcass traits, and meat quality. Four isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were offered to the experimental animals (5 steers per treatment) for 121 days using randomized complete block design. The steers individually received dietary treatments containing 0%, 7%, 14%, and 21% of CG (88.91% pure) on a dry matter (DM) basis. The diets were offered ad libitum as total mixed rations twice daily. Weight gain and carcass traits were determined. At the end of the experimental period, the harvest data and carcass characteristics of the steers were recorded, and meat quality was determined. No significant effect of CG inclusion was observed in any of the growth performance and carcass characteristics traits studied. Also, there were no apparent effects of diets (p>0.05) on meat quality (pH, water holding capacity, drip losses, and cooking losses). The study concluded that CG could be used as a substitute for corn grain up to the level of approximately 21% of DM in the diets of finishing steers.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 1985

More than 1,000 chickens of Korean native Yeonsan Ogolgye (Natural Monument No. 256) were used in this study in order to investigate their various external characteristics. The aims of this study were to define the Ogolgye chicken as a breed, and to provide basal data necessary for the genetic improvement of this breed. The investigated items are as follows : color of feather and toe; presense or absence of shank feather; the number of toes: color of shank and comb; the growth rates of shank, comb and feathers in various feather tracts; and finally, the livability. Data and informations were presented in tabular form in table 1 through 12. In summary, the various external traits of the Korean native Ogolgye breed can be characterized as follows. It has normal feather than silkic one as in the western type, with black color per-dominant. The frquency of white feather color is very low. The color of toes is devided into two categories; black toes in black plumage lines, and white toes in white plumage lines. Both seres have single combs with black color. The shank is gray- black and featherless. The breed has normally four toes. The eye color is black.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.137-145
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• 2015

Selective sweep can cause genetic differentiation across populations, which allows for the identification of possible causative regions/genes underlying important traits. The pig has experienced a long history of allele frequency changes through artificial selection in the domestication process. We obtained an average of 329,482,871 sequence reads for 24 pigs from three pig breeds: Yorkshire (n = 5), Landrace (n = 13), and Duroc (n = 6). An average read depth of 11.7 was obtained using whole-genome resequencing on an Illumina HiSeq2000 platform. In this study, cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity and cross-population composite likelihood ratio tests were implemented to detect genes experiencing positive selection for the genome-wide resequencing data generated from three commercial pig breeds. In our results, 26, 7, and 14 genes from Yorkshire, Landrace, and Duroc, respectively were detected by two kinds of statistical tests. Significant evidence for positive selection was identified on genes ST6GALNAC2 and EPHX1 in Yorkshire, PARK2 in Landrace, and BMP6, SLA-DQA1, and PRKG1 in Duroc. These genes are reportedly relevant to lactation, reproduction, meat quality, and growth traits. To understand how these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related positive selection affect protein function, we analyzed the effect of non-synonymous SNPs. Three SNPs (rs324509622, rs80931851, and rs80937718) in the SLA-DQA1 gene were significant in the enrichment tests, indicating strong evidence for positive selection in Duroc. Our analyses identified genes under positive selection for lactation, reproduction, and meat-quality and growth traits in Yorkshire, Landrace, and Duroc, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.465-467
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• 2002

The effects of salicylic acid (SA) on growth and proline were investigated in cucumber seedlings. Exogenous application of SA(100 uM - 1mM) led to a noticeable decrease in root and shoot growth, and dry weights of seedlings. Anatomical observation on leaf anatomy of cucumber revealed that the thickness of all leaf tissue components decreased in SA-treated plants. The effect was most promounced on the width of the adaxial epidermis. In the separate and simultaneous effects of SA and water deficit induced by PEG on growth and proline accumulation, the water deficit treatments had greater effects on growth traits and proline content than SA. Combinations of SA and PEG decreased dry matter and root length, and resulted in higher proline in both shoots and roots than SA stress alone. Shoots had higher proline than roots.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1397-1401
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• 2003

The aim of this study was to determine genotypes of four genetic markers and to investigate their association with milk production traits in Brown Swiss cattle imported to Slovakia. The bovine $\kappa$-casein, $\beta$-lactoglobulin, growth hormone and prolactin genotypes of 107 cows were identified by polymerase chain reaction. Effects all four genetic markers on milk, fat, protein and lactose yields and fat, protein and lactose percentage were estimated from a data set of 249 lactations. The frequency of desirable B allele of $\kappa$-casein gene to milk production was 0.46, alleles A of $\beta$-lactoglobulin gene was 0.55, allele and L of growth hormone gene was 0.45 and allele A and B of bovine prolactin gene were 0.61 and 0.39. The results of milk production obtained in our work showed that BB genotypes of $\kappa$-CN gene, AA genotypes of $\beta$-LG gene, LL genotypes of bGH gene were significantly associated with better milk production traits, mainly about the fat content. Association of a bovine prolactin genotypes with milk production were not found.