• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.1523-1528
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• 2000

Four Suffolk ewes were used in Latin Square switch over design to study the effects of varying levels and sources of protein on heat production and thermoregulatory responses at daytime high ($33^{\circ}C$ temperature. They were fed Italian ryegrass hay supplemented with fishmeal and/or urea, providing three different levels of crude protein (CP) (low/unsupplemented: 7.9, medium: 11.6, and high: 15.8%) at $1.5{\times}maintenance$. Feeds were distributed at 0900 (30%) and 1700 (70%). Urea diet caused higher heat production and increased vaginal temperature compared to fishmeal and fishmeal-urea mix diets. Time spent standing, skin temperature and respiration rate of sheep fed urea were similar with those of sheep fed fishmeal. Sheep fed diet with low CP level had higher heat production, increased vaginal and skin temperature than sheep fed diet with medium CP content. Sheep on high CP diet produced significantly more heat than sheep fed medium CP diets. Their vaginal temperatures were similar with those of sheep fed medium CP diet but lower than those of sheep fed low CP diet. Respiration rates of sheep and time spent by them for standing on all diets did not differ significantly. These results suggest that urea is inferior protein supplement for thermoregulation of animal at hot environment, as it induced higher heat production than fishmeal and fishmeal-urea mix. Thermoregulatory response on fishmeal-urea mix diet was similar to fishmeal diet. Increasing CP of the diet from low to medium gives advantage for thermoregulation of animal. Increasing CP further to high level was not beneficial as it resulted in the responses of sheep similar to those on low protein diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.389-396
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• 1996

In the first of two experiments, liveweight gain responses and carcass characteristics were investigated using two breeds of growing male goats, local (Dhofari) and exotic (Cashmere), fed on a whole pelleted-high fiber date by-products' based diet at 32.5% level (As-fed) supplemented with 12% fish (sardine), (HF-Fish) and a commercial concentrate diet (conc.). The (HF-Fish) diet was formulated to be iso-nitrogenous to the (conc.) diet, supplying 14% CP (DM-basis). Both diets together with Rhodes grass hay (Chloris Guyana) were fed ad libitum. The experimental design was a complete random arranged in a $2{\times}2$ factorial with breeds and diets as the main factors, using six animals per treatment. The experiment lasted for 84 days and goats were penned individually. At the end of the feeding trial, three animals from each treatment group were slaughtered for carcass evaluation. In experiment 2, diets' digestibility and N-balance were determined using 3 sheep per diet. The (HF-Fish) diet significantly(p < 0.05) improved liveweight gain. There was also a significant difference(p < 0.01) between breeds, with Cashmere gaining more than local goats. Feed conversion efficiency, dressing percent and longissimus dorsi area were not significantly affected by diet or breed(p > 0.05). Digestibility of the proximate components and N-balance for both diets were similar and not significantly different(p > 0.05). Fish supplementation greatly improved the digestibility of CF, ADF, NDF, cellulose and hemicellulose. Meat production ost was decreased by 31% due to feeding of the (HF-Fish) diet.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.897-910
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• 2022

Bovine fecal microbiota is important for host health and its composition can be affected by various factors, such as diet, age, species, breed, regions, and environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of diet and gender on fecal microbiota in Korean native Hanwoo cattle. The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of fecal microbiota was conducted from 44 Hanwoo cattle divided into four groups: (1) 11 heifers fed an oat hay plus total mixed ration (TMR) diet for breeding (HOTB), (2) 11 heifers fed an early fattening TMR diet (HEFT), (3) 11 steers fed the early fattening TMR diet (SEFT), and (4) 11 steers fed the late fattening TMR diet (SLFT). Firmicutes and Bacteroidota were the first and second most dominant phyla in all the samples, respectively. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidota (F/B) ratio associated with feed efficiency was significantly greater in the SLFT group than in the other groups. At the genus level, Romboutsia, Paeniclostridium, and Turicibacter were the most abundant in the SLFT while Akkermansia, Bacteroides, and Monoglobus were the most abundant in the HOTB group. Although the same early fattening TMR diet was fed to Hanwoo heifers and steers, Marvinbryantia and Coprococcus were the most abundant in the HEFT group while Alistipes and Ruminococcus were the most abundant in the SEFT group. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were significantly lower in the SLFT group than in the other groups. Distribution of fecal microbiota and functional genetic profiles were significantly different among the four treatment groups. The present study demonstrates that different diets and genders can affect fecal microbiota and the F/B ratio may be associated with feed efficiency in Hanwoo cattle. Our results may help develop strategies to improve gut health and productivity through manipulation of fecal microbiota using the appropriate diet considering Hanwoo cattle gender.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.485-494
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• 2020

Limiting amino acids (AAs) for milk production in dairy cows fed on a concentrate diet of corn grain and soybean meal was evaluated in this study. Four lactating and multiparous Holstein cows (in third or fourth parities, with an average body weight of 633 ± 49.2 kg), 8 to 9 weeks into their lactation period, were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. The experiment comprised four dietary treatments: (1) no intravenous infusion (control); (2) control plus intravenous infusion of an AA mixture of 6 g/d methionine, 19.1 g/d lysine, 13.8 g/d isoleucine, and 15.4 g/d valine (4AA); (3) control plus intravenous infusion of the AA mixture without methionine (no-Met); and (4) control plus intravenous infusion of the AA mixture without lysine (no-Lys). All animals were fed on a controlled diet (1 kg/d alfalfa hay, 10 kg/d silage, 14 kg/d concentrate mixture, ad libitum timothy hay). The AA composition of the diet and blood were determined using an automatic AA analyzer. Milk composition (protein, fat, lactose, urea nitrogen, and somatic cell counts) was determined using a MilkoScan. The results showed that feed intake for milk production did not differ from that of intravenous infusion using a limiting AA mixture. The 4AA treatment numerically had the highest milk yield (32.4 kg/d), although there was no difference when compared with the control (31.2 kg/d), no-Met (31.3 kg/d), and no-Lys (31.7 kg/d) treatments. The concentration of AAs in blood plasma of cows in all treatments, mainly isoleucine and valine, increased significantly compared with that of control. The no-Met treatment increased (p < 0.05) the concentration of lysine in the blood relative to the control and no-Lys treatments, whereas the no-Lys treatment increased (p < 0.05) the concentration of methionine relative to the control and no-Met treatments. In conclusion, milk production increased when feeding 10 g/d methionine to the cows, together with their concentrate diet of corn grain and soybean meal.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.1166-1173
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• 2010

Sixteen Mediterranean pluriparous buffaloes were subdivided into two uniform groups of eight animals. The average weight of the two groups at the start of the trial was 671.2 and 656.7 kg. The number of days from calving were 33.4 and 33.3, and the average milk production was 12.73 and 12.33 kg/d. The trial lasted for 114 days, and was divided into two sub-periods of 58 and 56 days. The two diets, administered ad libitum, had the same forage/concentrate ratio (53/47) but in their formulation the percentage of the two forages varied. Diet 1: alfalfa hay = 10%, maize silage = 43%, concentrate 1 = 47% (6.63 MJ/kg DM of net energy; 179.5 g/kg DM of crude protein). Diet 2: alfalfa hay = 20%, maize silage = 33%, concentrate 2 = 47%, (5.99 MJ/kg DM of net energy; 155.4 g/kg DM of crude protein). For the overall trial period (33-146 days in milk), the intake of dry matter was 17.23 kg/d for Group 1 and 17.29 kg/d for Group 2 and corresponded to 2.50 and 2.58% (p<0.01) of live weight. There was no significant difference between the average weight (689.7 and 669.4 kg) and the body condition score (6.49 and 6.42) of the two groups of buffaloes. Group 1 produced a greater quantity of milk (11.89 vs. 10.90 kg/d, p<0.10) of better quality both for its higher fat content (82.32 vs. 77.29 g/kg, p<0.10) and its protein content (47.36 and 46.38 g/kg). The milk produced by the buffaloes receiving Diet 1 had a better clotting ability, lower values of r (15.98 and 16.42 min) and K20 (1.66 and 1.75 min) and a higher value of A30 (54.45 and 52.73 mm). Taking into consideration the two sub-periods, milk production was significantly different only in the first sub-period (33-90 DIM), in favour of Group 1 (13.08 vs. 11.56 kg/d, p<0.05), while the positive effect of Diet 1 was cancelled out (10.71 and 10.24 kg/d) in the second part of the trial (91-146 DIM).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1309-1314
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• 2003

Growth performance, nutrient digestibility and changes in caecal fermentation pattern was studied on four groups of 8 grower rabbits (soviet chinchilla) each, fed on diets containing 17 to 18% CP and $10.4-11.00MJ\;DE\;kg^{-1}$ feed. The complete diets contained mulberry leaves along with other feed ingredients at 0 (LH), 15 (ML15), 30 (ML30) and 45% (ML45) levels. In LH diet ground lucerne hay was added at 15% of the diet as roughage source. The diets were uniform in other nutritional parameters except the higher amount of hemicellulose (18.7 and 16.5%) in LH and ML15 diets. The performance of grower rabbits was better (p<0.05) on LH and ML15 diets in terms of twelve weeks weight (kg), total gain (g), average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (%). Different levels of mulberry leaves in the diet did not influence the dry matter intake. Digestibility of nutrients for DM, OM, CP, NDF and energy was uniform in all the diets but the digestibility of CF, ADF and cellulose was higher (p<0.01) on ML15, ML30 and ML 45 diets. The hemicellulose digestibility was significantly higher (p<0.01) on LH (44.52%) and ML15 (48.00%) compared to ML30 (33.54%) and ML 45 (39.17%) diets. The nitrogen retention (% of intake) was higher (p<0.05) in LH and ML15 diets than ML30 and ML45 diets. The caecum weight as percent of intestine weight consistently increased (p<0.05) with increasing content of mulberry leaves in diets. Total nitrogen and $NH_3$-N was higher on LH and ML15 diets. It is concluded that incorporation of mulberry leaves can replace Lucerne hay in complete rabbit feed (15% in diet). Even at higher level i.e. 30 and 45% of the diet mulberry leaves based complete feed gave promising results.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.838-846
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• 2022

Objective: Native plants can be used as additives to replace antibiotics to improve ruminant feed utilization and animal health. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Gentiana straminea (GS) on nutrient digestibility, methane emissions, and energy metabolism of Simmental calves. Methods: Thirty-two (5-week-old) male Simmental clves, with initial body weight (BW) of 155±12 kg were fed the same basal diet of concentrates (26%), alfalfa hay (37%), and oat hay (37%) and were randomly separated into four treatment groups according to the amount of GS that was added to their basal diet. The four different groups received different amounts of GS as a supplement to their basal diet during whole experiment: (0 GS) 0 mg/kg BW, the control; (100 GS) 100 mg/kg BW; (200 GS) 200 mg/kg BW; and (300 GS) 300 mg/kg BW. Results: For calves in the 200 GS and 300 GS treatment groups, there was a significant increase in dry matter (DM) intake (p<0.01), average daily gain (ADG) (p<0.05), organic matter intake (p<0.05), DM digestibility (p<0.05), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility (p<0.05), and acid detergent fibre (ADF) digestibility (p<0.05). Dietary GS supplementation result in quadratic increases of DM intake (p<0.01), ADG (p<0.05), NDF intake (p<0.05), and ADF intake (p<0.05). Supplementing the basal diet with GS significantly increased nitrogen (N) retention (p<0.001) and the ratio of retention N to N intake (p<0.001). Supplementing the basal diet with GS significantly decreased methane (CH₄) emissions (p<0.01), CH₄/BW^0.75 (p<0.05) and CH₄ energy (CH₄-E) (p<0.05). Dietary GS supplementation result in quadratic increases of CH₄ (p<0.01) and CH₄/DM intake (p<0.01). Compared with 0 GS, GS-supplemented diets significantly improved their gross energy intake (p<0.05). The metabolizable energy and digestive energy intake were significantly greater for calves in the 100 GS and 200 GS calves than for 0 GS calves (p<0.05). Conclusion: From this study, we conclude that supplementing calf diets with GS could improve utilization of feed, energy, and N, and may reduce CH₄ emissions without having any negative effects on animal health.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.212-222
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• 1982

The effect of changing dietary protein sources (meat vs. textured soy protein, TSP) on serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentration and on urinary creatinine and 3-methylhistidine(3-MeHis) excretion was studied in eight healthy women. All subjects were put on the control diet, meat diet, and TSP diet for 3 days in each diet regimen and had 4-day adaptation period between the regimens. The 24-hour urine was collected on the third day of each diet period and fasting blood was sampled on the morning of the fourth day. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations increased significantly after the meat diet when compared with the control diet, but decreased significantly after the TSP diet. Urinary excretion of creatinine and 3-methylhistidine decreased significantly after the TSP diet when compared with the meat diet.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.455-462
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• 2003

A study was conducted to determine the effects of feeding a diet containing no Ca supplement (limestone) during the late finishing period on growth, marbling and serum 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin $D_3$ level in Korean native cattle. Twenty-four steers (20${\sim}$24 mo of age) were divided into two groups of 12 each: one group assigned to a control diet (concentrates containing 2.5% limestone) and the other to a diet containing no calcium supplement. They were allowed to have free access to diets (concentrates and orchard grass hay) and water during the entire feeding period (223 d). Serum $Ca^{2+}$, Ca and P concentrations were not influenced by diets, but serum 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin $D_3$ concentrations determined 2 or 6 mo after the beginning of feeding the experimental diets were higher (P<0.01) in steers fed the diet without Ca supplement than in those fed the control diet (78.3 vs 51.7 and 80.3 vs 51.1 pg/mL, respectively). Steers fed the diet without Ca supplement tended to have a higher intake of concentrates, but a lower intake of hay, compared to those fed the control diet. Average daily gain was higher (P<0.05) in steers fed the diet without Ca supplement than in those fed the control diet. Feeding the diet without Ca supplement remarkably (P<0.01) increased the marbling score (5.1 vs 2.2) and the muscle (M. longissimus dorsi) fat content (10.2 vs 6.7%) with a concomitant decrease in moisture content (67.6 vs 70.4%), compared to feeding the control diet. Ribeye area was increased (77.2 vs 82.8 $cm^2$) with the diet without Ca supplement, compared to the control diet (P<0.05). Meat color, pH and water-holding capacity in longissimus muscle were not different between the two groups. The Warner-Brazler Shear (WBS) force of the longissimus muscle was slightly (P=0.08) lower in steers fed the diet without Ca supplement than in steers fed the control diet (2.9 vs 3.2 kg/1.27-cm diameter core). Sensory evaluation showed that feeding the diet without Ca supplement slightly (P<0.05) improved tenderness (4.9 vs 4.5) and flavor (4.9 vs 4.6), compared to feeding the control diet, but juiciness was not affected by diets. Results showed that deletion of Ca supplement from finishing diets is beneficial, increasing growth and marbling partly through an increased energy intake and induced 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin $D_3$ synthesis that may increase intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration and in turn fat synthesis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1619-1624
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• 2003

The effect of maize hybrid (Suco and Dekalb 765, DK 765), maturity stage (milk, $R_3$ and 1/2 milk line, $R_5$) and animal diet (Diet 1: 70% lucerne hay+30% maize silage; Diet 2: 50% maize silage+20% sunflower meal+30% maize grain) on ruminal stover dry matter (DM) degradability was studied. Additionally, morphological and chemical plant composition was evaluated. Fodder samples ground at 2 mm were incubated in three Holstein steers (400 kg body weight) using the in situ technique. Ruminal degradation kinetics was studied and the effective degradability (ED) was estimated for an assumed kp of 5%/h. The in situ data was analyzed in a complete randomized block design with the animals as blocks. Significant interactions between hybrid${\times}$diet and maturity${\times}$diet on kinetic digestion parameters were detected. In Diet 1, hybrids did not differ in degradable fraction, kd or ED, although a minor difference (p<0.05) in the soluble fraction was found (25.5 and 23.2% for Suco and DK 765, respectively). In Diet 2, the DK 765 had greater degradable fraction (p<0.001) but smaller (p<0.01) kd than Suco, without differences in the soluble fraction or in ED. Anticipating the harvest increased ED of stover from 37.5% in $R_5$ to 44.6% in $R_3$ (average values across hybrids and diets) due to the increase (p<0.001) in the soluble fraction ($R_5$: 22.6%, $R_3$: 28.8%). It is concluded that hybrids had similar stover in situ DM degradability and that soluble fraction represent the main proportion of degradable substrates. Advancing the date of harvesting may not improve the in situ DM degradability of whole maize plant silage since the increase in stover quality is counteracted by the depression in the grain-to-stover ratio. The diet of the animal consuming silage might not improve stover utilization either.