• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.887-892
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• 2011

This study was to find out influence of heavy metal concentration in plant on microbial activities during decomposition of Artenmisia princeps var. orientalis and Equisetum arvense collected from an abandoned mine and control site in Cheongyang-gun Chungcheongnam-do. Microbial respiration rate showed the highest value at the time of the first collection, and then tended to decline over time. The highest microbial respiration rate appeared in leaf litters with low heavy metal contents, and A. princeps var. orientalis and E. arvense collected and decomposed at the control site showed the fastest decomposition rate. For both A. princeps var. orientalis and E. arvense, litters with low heavy metal content appeared to have higher microbial biomass. There was apparent quantitative correlation between decomposition rate and cumulative respiration rate of leaf litters, and between decomposition rate and microbial biomass of leaf litters. Thus, the study result showed that leaf litter with higher heavy metal content had a negative impacts on the growth and activity of microbial decomposer during decomposition processes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1270-1277
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• 2017

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the impact of ewe body condition score (BCS) (over a range of 2.0 to 3.0) and nutritional treatments (consisting of differing herbage masses) during very late pregnancy and lactation and their potential interaction on the performance of twin-bearing ewes and their lambs to weaning. Methods: On day 142 of pregnancy, twin-bearing ewes with a BCS of 2.0, 2.5, or 3.0 were allocated to a "Moderate' or 'Unrestricted' nutritional treatment until day 95 of lactation (weaning). The nutritional treatments aimed to achieve average herbage masses of 1,200 to 1,300 kg dry matter (DM)/ha (Moderate) and 1,500 to 1,800 kg DM/ha (Unrestricted). Results: There were no three-way interactions between ewe BCS group, nutritional treatment and time for any ewe or lamb parameter. The nutritional treatments had no effect (p>0.05) on lamb birth or weaning weight. Lambs born to Moderate ewes had greater survival and total litter weight at weaning (p<0.05). Regardless of BCS group, Unrestricted treatment ewes had greater body condition and back-fat depth at weaning than Moderate treatment ewes (p<0.05). Ewes of BCS 2.0 group reared lighter lambs to weaning (p<0.05) and tended to have a lower total litter weight (p = 0.06) than BCS 3.0 group ewes. Conclusion: This study suggests farmers should aim to have all ewes with a BCS of 2.5 or 3 in late pregnancy for optimal lamb weaning performance. Furthermore, there is no benefit to lamb production of offering ewes pasture masses >1,200 kg DM/ha during very late pregnancy and lactation.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.555-559
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• 2012

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a by-product from processing corn to produce bio-ethanol, and it contains almost three times higher protein, fat, and fiber than corn. Intake of higher amount of nutrients originated from corn in lactating sows may contribute to changes in milk composition and thus alter the growth of suckling piglets. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate effect of supplementing DDGS in the diet of lactating sows on variation in the body weight of piglets. A total of 50 sows with parities of 3 to 5 were usedand allottedinto one of four treatments which included 0 (CON), 10% (DDGS10), 20% (DDGS20), or 30% (DDGS30) DDGS in the diet. Diets were fed to sows during the whole lactation period. Individual body weights of piglets were measured within 24 h after farrowing and at weaning. No significant differences were observed inthe coefficient of variation (CV) for body weight of piglets within a litter after farrowing and at weaning among the treatments (p>0.05). There was, however, a tendency of decreases in the CV for body weight of piglets within a litter at weaning compared with that after farrowingin the DDGS10 and DDGS20 treatments. At weaning, the percentage of the number of piglets weighing less than 4.5 kg in DDGS20 (4.86%, 7 out of 144; p<0.05) or DDGS30 (5.04%, 6 out of 119; p=0.059) was lower than that in CON (12.41%; 17 out of 137) although this pattern was not observed in DDGS10. In conclusion, addition of DDGS in lactating sow diets improved piglet performance by reducing the number piglets weighing less than 4.5 kg.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1860-1868
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of optimal trace mineral levels on the physiological responses, reproductive performance, litter performance, blood profiles and milk composition in gestating sows. Methods: A total of 59 multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) with similar body weight (BW), backfat thickness (BF), and parity were assigned to one of four treatments with 14 or 15 sows per treatment using a completely randomized design. The treatments were 100% (M1), 300% (M3), 600% (M6), and 900% (M9) of the National Research Council (NRC) Nutrient Requirements of Swine. During lactation period, all the sows were fed the same commercial lactation diet. Results: No significant differences were observed in the BW, BF, reproductive performance, milk composition, or growth performance of the piglets. On day 70 of gestation, the serum zinc concentration showed a quadratic response to M6 treatment (quadratic, p<0.05). Moreover, as the dietary mineral levels increased, the zinc concentration increased linearly at 110 days of gestation (linear, p<0.05). Furthermore, copper and iron concentrations in the serum of sows at 24 h postpartum decreased linearly when high levels of dietary minerals were provided (linear, p<0.05). In the serum of piglets, serum zinc concentrations decreased linearly (linear, p<0.05), and iron concentration showed a quadratic response (quadratic, p<0.05) with an increase in trace mineral premix levels in gestation diets. Conclusion: The current trace mineral requirements of NRC (2012) are suitable for gestating sows, and the addition of dietary mineral levels in the gestating diet did not show any improvements during the gestation and lactation periods.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.72-78
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• 2002

The effects of housing and nutrition on the performance of growing gilts of the Nepalese Pakhribas breed were investigated. A total of 36 pigs were allocated according to a factorial design with 3 levels of nutrition, provided to achieve a target growth rate of 200, 300 or 400 g/day, and two types of housing, traditional or improved. The growth rate and body composition were monitored during the growing period and subsequent pregnancy. There was a significantly higher growth rate (p<0.01), greater $P_2$ backfat thickness (p<0.01), and greater eye muscle depth (p<0.01) at service in pigs given the higher level of nutrition. Similarly, there was a significantly higher growth rate (p<0.05), and greater eye muscle depth (p<0.10) with improved housing but no significant difference in $P_2$ backfat thickness. The conception rate was 90% at first service, with no difference between treatments. Gilts from the high plane of rearing produced a mean litter size of one piglet greater than those on the low plane, but this was not significant with the limited numbers. However, both improved plane of nutrition and reduced climatic penalty by improving housing resulted in increased birthweight of piglets (p<0.05). It is concluded that improvement in housing can give benefits equivalent to at least a 7% improvement in efficiency of feed use under traditional Nepalese circumstances for pig rearing.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

Objectives: Particulate contaminants, such as total and respirable dusts, can harm the health of farm workers via several routes. The principal aims of this field study were to determine the concentrations and emissions of particulate contaminants: total and respirable dusts, in the different types of swine houses used in Korea, and allow objective comparison between Korea and the other countries in terms of swine housing types. Methods: The swine houses investigated in this research were selected with respect to three criteria: the manure removal system, ventilation mode and growth stage of pigs. Measurements of total and respirable dust concentrations and emissions in the swine houses were carried out on 5 housing types at 15 different farm sites per housing type. The swine houses investigated were randomly selected from farms situated within the central districts in Korea: province of Kyung-gi, Chung-buk and Chung-nam. Results: The total and respirable dust concentrations in the swine houses averaged $1.88\;and\;0.64mg/m^3$, ranging from $0.53\;to\;4.37mg/m^3$ and from $0.18\;to\;1.68mg/m^3$, respectively. The highest concentrations of total and respirable dusts were found in the swine houses with deep-litter bed systems: $2.94mg/m^3\;and\;1.14 mg/m^3$, while the lowest concentrations were found in the naturally ventilated buildings with slats: $0.83mg/m^3\;and\;0.24mg/m^3$, respectively (p<0.05). All the swine houses investigated did not exceed the threshold limit values (TLVs) for total ($10mg/m^3$) and respirable ($2.5mg/m^3$) dusts. The mean emissions of total and respirable dusts, per pig (75 kg in terms of live weight) and area ($m^2$), from the swine houses were 97.33 and 9.55 mg/h/pig and $37.14\;and\;12.83mg/h/m^2$, respectively. The swine houses with deep-litter bed systems showed the highest emissions of total and respirable dusts (p<0.05). However, the emissions of total and respirable dusts from the other swine houses were not significantly different (p>0.05). Conclusion: The concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts were relatively higher in the swine houses managed with deep-litter bed systems and ventilated naturally of the different swine housing types tested. In further research, more farms than the number used in this research should be investigated, which will present objective and accurate data on the concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts in Korean swine houses. In addition, personal sampling should be performed to objectively assess the exposure level of farm workers to particulate contaminants.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.254-259
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• 2004

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of supplemented diets with Malty Culture(MC) during lactation on sow and litter performance. Eighteen lactating sows were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments(basal diet, basal diet+MC0.5%, basal+MCl.0%). Average daily feed intake of sow was not affected by dietary treatments with treatment means ranging from 4.49 to 4.58kg(p>0.62). All sows lost their backfat thickness during lactation with no difference among the treatments(p>0.25). Fecal moisture was similar for sows fed the control and MC treatments with 70% moisture content. The growth rate of piglets was not significant difference among the treatments ranging from 47 to 48kg. Day to estrus postweaning was not affected by supplementation of MC with treatment means ranging from 5 to 7 days. There was not significant difference in the milk production(i.e, 8.9kg/d for control, 9.18kg/d for MC0.5 and 9.20kg/d for MC1.0). Survivability of piglet was affected by feeding added MC during lactation. There was no significant difference in the digestibility of DM, but the digestibility of N tended to increase in sows fed the MC0.5 and MC1.0 supplemented diets compared to the basal diet(linear effect, p<0.10; quadratic effect. p<0.08). Digestibility of P tended to increase by the treatment of supplemented MC. However, there was no significant difference among the treatments. In conclusion, the results of experiment suggest that lactation diet of supplemented MC could be a beneficial feeding for digestibility in sow and litter performance.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_3
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• pp.649-663
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• 1998

The clarify the ecological properties, and to predict change of understory vegetation of mt. Nam Park, population dynamics and interspecific competition of D. smilacinum and D. viridescens, which grow in understory of deciduous broad-leaved forest and pseudo-annuals, were studied from May 20 to May 30 1998. The depth of litter layer, soil moisture content, soil organic matter and soil texture were surveyed in 18 populations (15 D. smilacinum populations and 3 D. viridescens populations). Mean litter layer of d. smilacimum population was thinner than that of D. viridescens populations). Mean litter layer of D. smilacnum population was thinner than that of D. viridescens population. The contents of soil moisture and organic matter of D. smilacinum population were lower than that of D. viridescens population. The D. smilacinum growed in broad range of soil texture but D. viridescens in loamy soil. Because D. smilacinum could tolerate more broad range of soil moisture and soil texture than D. viridescens, the former covered the herb layer in earlier stage and the latter introduced in later stage when rhizome could grow easily. The numbers of individual in two marginal parts were smaller than that in center in same D. smilacinum patch. And the total numbers of individuals grown in (10 ${\times}$ 10)cm were from 0 to 12. The rhizome (subterranean runner) weight, rhizome length, root weight, shoot weight, lea weight and leaf number per subquadrat (cell) increased along the number of individual, that is, increased from marginal part to center. But rhizome weight and rhizome length per individual were vice versa. Therefore, the individuals in marginal part reproduced longer and stronger asexual propagules than that in center. The distribution pattern of D. smilacinum was contageous and that of D. viridescens was random or regular. Therefore, population growth of former was independent on density and that of latter was dependent on density. The distributions of size-class showed normal curves in two population, but the curves based on data of total dry weight showed positive skewness and those of leaf number showed negative skewness The correlation coefficient (CC) values between the properties of each organ were high in two population and significant at 0.1% level. The CC values of D. viridescens were higher of the two. Therefore, the former allocated the energy to each organ stable. The rhizome depth of d. viridescens was 2 times deeper than that of D. smilacinum. And rhizome length and weight of D. viridescens were longer (2 times) or heavier (4 times) than those of D. smilacinum. The patch size of D. viridescens increased 60 cm per year and that of D. smilacinum 30 cm. On this results, the intrinsic increase velocity of d. viridescens patch was 2 times faster than that of d. smilacinum, therefore, on the competition, the former had an advantage over D. smilacinum. The reason why d. viridescens defeated D. smilacinum resulted from that the leaf area of former was 4 times broader than that of latter. in Mt. Nam Park, it was thought that two disporum Population would change with the 3 thpes of environmental change as followings. First, no human impact and increase of soil moisture content resulted in increase of D. viridescens population. Second, mild human impact and similar condition of soil moisture content resulted in slow increase or no changes of D. smilacinum and d. viridescens population. Third, severe human impact and dry condition resulted in decrease or vanishment of two disporum populations.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.154-162
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• 2019

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary energy and crude protein (CP) levels on reproductive performance, litter performance, milk quality, and blood profiles in gestating sows. A total of 59 multiparous sows (Yorkshire ${\times}$ Landrace) with similar body weights (BW), backfat thickness (BF), and parity were assigned to one of six treatments with 9 or 10 sows per treatment using a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement and completely randomized design. The first factor was two levels of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) density (13.40 or 13.82 MJ/kg) and the second factor was three dietary protein levels based from 35 day in gestating phases (10.5%, 12%, and 13.5%). Backfat thickness change in lactating sows decreased linearly as CP level increased (p = 0.03). Increased energy level in the gestating sow diet tended to increase the total number of piglets born (p = 0.07), but piglet weight decreased (p = 0.02). Dietary CP level had a negative effect on colostrum quality. Casein, protein, total solid, and solids-not-fat concentrations decreased linearly and lactose level increased linearly as CP level in the gestating sow diet increased (casein%: p = 0.03; protein%: p = 0.04; lactose%: p = 0.06; total solids: p = 0.03; solid-not-fat: p = 0.03, respectively). However, improving ME by 0.42 MJ/kg had no significant effect on the chemical composition of sow colostrum. There were no significant differences in blood glucose concentration in gestating sows when sows were fed different levels of energy during gestation, but blood glucose increased at 21 day of lactation when energy increased by 0.42 MJ/kg (p = 0.04). Blood urea nitrogen concentration increased linearly when dietary CP levels increased at 110 day in gestation, 24-hours postpartum, and 21 days of lactation (linear, p < 0.05, p < 0.05, and p < 0.05, respectively), and it also increased when dietary energy increased at 110 days of gestation and 24-hours postpartum (p < 0.01, and p < 0.01, respectively). A gestating sow diet containing 13.82 MJ/kg ME and 10.5% CP can improve reproductive performance, litter performance, and colostrum quality.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 1991

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is a common cultivated and wild deciduous tree in the temperate regions of Pakistan and elsewhere. A bare or poor understorey of wild or cultivated species is frequently observed beneath and around it. Soil analysis indicated insignificant differences in nutrient status of soils taken from areas with or without walnut influence. Field investigations revealed that the height, shoot, fresh and dry weight of potato, turnip, corn and bean significantly decreased in the walnut-influenced parts of the field compared to their counter-parts in the same field but without walnut influence. Aqueous extracts from various parts, shoot litter, natural rain leachates and soil collected from beneath walnut significantly reduced the germination, early seedling growth, fresh and dry weight, and moisture contents of corn, turnip and bean in various laboratory experiments. Ferulic, p-coumaric, caffeic, vanillic, jJ-hydroxybenzoic, chlorogenic and gallic acid were identified as the possible allelopathic substances in the aquous extracts and rain leachates of the walnut tree. The findings suggest that the observed poor growth of crops is due to allelopathic effects of walnut.walnut.