• Smart Media Journal
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2014

The demand for food rises proportionally as population grows. To be able to achieve sustainable supply of livestock products, efficient farm management is a necessity. With the advancement in technology it also brought innovations that could be harness in order to achieve better productivity in animal production and agriculture. Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) is a budding concept of making use of smart sensors or available devices to automatically and continuously monitor and manage livestock production. With this concept, this paper introduces a swine management system that integrates image processing technique for weight monitoring. This system captures pig images using camera, evaluate and estimate the weight base on the captured image. It is comprised of Pig Module, Breeding Module, Health and Medication Module, Weighr Module, Data Analysis Module and Report Module to help swine farm administrators better understand the performance and situation of the swine farm. This paper aims to improve the management in both small and big livestock raisers.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.21-30
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• 2019

Livestock odor is comprised of mixed type of odorous compounds. Among these, ammonia ($NH_3$) and hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) are the two known major odor causing substances. Because high odor concentration reduces productivity of livestock and causes damage to the surrounding communities, quantitative analysis is needed to manage the odor inside and outside the livestock facilities. It is also necessary to evaluate odor dispersion according to the distance between the receptors taking into account the influence of odor source and weather condition. Therefore, in this study, we tried to evaluate the internal environment and odor dispersion from experimental pig house considering weather conditions. An experimental farm was specifically selected to eliminate the interference of odors generated by adjacent farms. $NH_3$ and complex odor were quantitatively analyzed using a gas detector and air dilution sensory method. The concentration of $NH_3$ and complex odor in pig house showed a distinct concentration difference according to the cleaning and ventilation conditions. $NH_3$ concentration and complex odor was lower than emission standard in the pig house and at the site boundary. The average $NH_3$ concentration (P1~P3) and the $NH_3$ concentration at the site boundary (S1) were strongly correlated with R=0.77. While the correlation for complex odor inside and at the site boundary had R=0.52. The correlation coefficient between $NH_3$ and the complex odor was 0.80.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.704-709
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• 2023

Objective: In tropical, subtropical and arid zones, heat stress is the main cause of productivity reduction in cattle. When climate stressors occur, animals become thermal adapted through differential expression of some genes, including heat shock proteins (HSP) family. The aim of this study was to determine levels of expression of HSP60, HSP70, and HSP90 genes in Simmental cattle raised in tropical environments of Mexico. Methods: In this study, expression of HSP60, HSP70, and HSP90 genes was analyzed in 116 Simmental cattle from three farms with tropical climate located in western Mexico. Animals were sampled twice a day, in the morning and noon. Gene expression was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction using probes marked with fluorescence. The MIXED procedure of SAS with repeated measures was used for all statistical analysis. Results: HSP60 gene expression differences were found for sex (p = 0.0349). HSP70 gene differences were detected for sampling hour (p = 0.0042), farm (p<0.0001), sex (p = 0.0476), and the interaction sampling hour×farm (p = 0.0002). Gene expression differences for HSP90 were observed for farm (p<0.0001) and year (p = 0.0521). HSP70 gene showed to be a better marker of heat stress than HSP60 and HSP90 genes. Conclusion: Expression of HSP70 gene in Simmental herds of the tropical region of western México was different during early morning and noon, but the expression of the HSP60 and HSP90 genes was similar. Identification of resilient animals to heat stress will be useful in the genetic improvement of the Simmental breed.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.4_spc
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• pp.730-741
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• 2024

Pig production is one of the viable enterprises of the livestock sub-sector of agriculture. It contributes significantly to the economy and animal protein supply to enhance food security in Africa and globally. This article explored the present status of pig production in Africa, the challenges, prospects and potentials. The pig population of Africa represents 4.6% of the global pig population. They are widely distributed across Africa except in Northern Africa where pig production is not popular due to religio-cultural reasons. They are mostly reared in rural parts of Africa by smallholder farmers, informing why majority of the pig population in most parts of Africa are indigenous breeds and their crosses. Pig plays important roles in the sustenance of livelihood in the rural communities and have cultural and social significance. The pig production system in Africa is predominantly traditional, but rapidly growing and transforming into the modern system. The annual pork production in Africa has grown from less than a million tonnes in year 2000 to over 2 million tonnes in 2021. Incidence of disease outbreak, especially African swine fever is one of the main constraints affecting pig production in Africa. Others are lack of skills and technical know-how, high ambient temperature, limited access to high-quality breeds, high cost of feed ingredients and veterinary inputs, unfriendly government policies, religious and cultural bias, inadequate processing facilities as well as under-developed value-chain. The projected human population of 2.5 billion in Africa by 2050, increasing urbanization and decreasing farming population are pointers to the need for increased food production. The production systems of pigs in Africa requires developmental research, improvements in housing, feed production and manufacturing, animal health, processing, capacity building and pig friendly policies for improved productivity and facilitation of export.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.123-130
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• 2020

These experiments were to investigate the variations of rye on forage quality, productivity and β-carotene concentration affected by maturity in Pyeongchang region. Limited information are available about how forage quality and β-carotene content are affected by various factors. Samples were collected from rye harvested every 5 days, from April 25 to May 31 (April 25, April 30, May 4, May 9, May 15, May 21, May 25 and May 31). Dry matter (DM) content, plant height, DM yield and total digestible nutrient (TDN) yield increased continuously with the progressed maturity. However, crude protein (CP) content, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and relative feed value (RFV) decreased markedly with the delay of harvesting, while TDN content decreased from April 25 till May 15, then followed by a stable fluctuation. Conversely, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) value increased and then fluctuated slightly after blooming stage. For quality of plant parts, stem contained the lowest CP content and RFV value, and the highest ADF and NDF contents compared with other parts, while the grain showed the higher CP, IVDMD, RFV and lower fiber contents than others. With the plant matured, leaf proportion decreased while stem and grain proportion increased, and feed value of all the three parts decreased till blooming stage and followed by a stable phase. β-carotene concentration showed its highest on jointing stage, and then fell down sharply on the sequential stages. In conclusion, harvest around May 15 (blooming) is proper for forage rye if directly consumed by livestock as green chop in Pyeongchang under the consideration of both nutritive yield and forage quality.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2006

This experiment was carried out to investigate the distribution, function of dry matter and competition in the grassland composed with mainly perennial ryegrass. Co-functions between grasses and weeds were evaluated by calculating methods; expected yield (P), agressivity, relative yield total (RYT), compensation index (CI) and morphological index (MI). Each values obtained were influenced by seeding method, grassland management and seasonal changes of co-functional index were identical. Expected yields of spring were lower than those of fall and improved by additional seeding to grassland in early spring time. In the relative yield total (RYT), all were under 1.0 which ranged from 0.17 to 0.41. Compensation index (CI) ranged from -0.3 to -0.6 and all values showed 'under compensation(+, --)' This means that the conditions of 'under compensation' could be improved through weed control by management of grassland in perennial ryegrass grassland. The results indicated that productivity of grassland mainly composed with perennial ryegrass is negatively affected by weeds like shepherd's purse, crabgrass and barnyard grass. As major weeds, shepherd's purse in spring, crabgrass in summer and barnyard grass in summer and fall were negatively functioned to productivity in the grassland composed with mainly perennial ryegrass.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2002

The yield and quality of winter forage crops such as oats could increase by mixed sowing with a winter legume such as hairy vetch(Vicia villosa Roth). The purpose of this study was to improve the forage quality and productivity using Oat-Hairy vetch mixture in winter season for three years. The results of this experiments were summarized as follows. In mix seeding of oat and hairy vetch, the dry matter(DM) content of herbage was 15∼16% in fall-harvest and 19∼20% in spring-harvest. Crude protein(CP) content of hairy vetch was the highest as 30.1% and the mixture was higher than that of oat. Acid detergent fiber(ADF) and neutral detergent fiber(NDF) content of hairy vetch was lower, but in vitro dry matter digestibility(IVDMD) and total dry matter digestibility(TDN) content was higher than that of oat. Although oat showed the low yield by 3.7∼4.4 DM t/ha, the Fall-seeded-Spring-harvest hairy vetch plot showed highly production by 9.5 DM t/ha. Crude protein and TDN yield of Fall-seeded-Spring-harvest plots were higher than those of others. According to this study, the highest dry matter yield could be obtained by Fall-seeded-Spring-harvest. It would be recommend in cropping field for oat.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.248-255
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• 2023

Objective: Stress factors such as high temperatures, overcrowding, and diurnal temperature range exert profound negative effects on weight gain and productivity of broiler chickens. The potential of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) as an excitatory neurotransmitter was evaluated under various stress conditions in this study. Methods: The experiment was conducted under four different environmental conditions: normal, high temperature, overcrowded, and in an overcrowded-diurnal temperature range. The experimental groups were divided into (-) control group without stress, (+) control group with stress, and G50 group (GABA 50 mg/kg) with stress. Weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were measured, and stress reduction was evaluated through hematologic analysis. Results: The effects of GABA on broilers in four experimental treatments were evaluated. GABA treated responded to environmental stress and improved productivity in all the experimental treatments. The magnitude of stress observed was highest at high temperature, followed by the overcrowded environment, and was least for the overcrowded-diurnal temperature range. Conclusion: Various stress factors in livestock rearing environment can reduce productivity and increase disease incidence and mortality rate. To address these challenges, GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, was shown to reduce stress caused due to various environmental conditions and improve productivity.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2003

Phenotypic characteristics and genetic markers in livestock have been utilized for improvement of the economic traits including egg productivity. Korean Native Ogol Chicken (KNOC) has low egg productivity compared to White Leghorn. Therefore, in this study, serum IGF-I concentration and number of egg production were used as selection markers to improve egg productivity. KNOCs were divided into three groups showing high IGF-I concentration (IGF-I high), high egg production (EP high), and IGF-I/EP high groups. Blood was collected every 10 weeks, and serum concentrations of IGF-I, estradiol (E2), and progesterone (P4) were measured by radioimmunoassay. In comparison of three groups in each generation, the highest increment of egg production was detected in the IGF-I/EP high group from 20 weeks till 40 weeks, and the IGF-I high group also showed the significant increment of egg production after 50 weeks. Interestingly, there were the increase of egg production and decrease of periods in sexual maturity in the second and third generation selected by serum IGF-I concentration, while egg weight and body weight decreased during experimental period. In conclusion, the present study suggest the possibility of IGF-I as a selection marker to improve the egg productivity of KNOC.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.428-434
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• 2015

A stockperson has a significant influence on the productivity and welfare of his animals depending on his stockmanship competence. In this study, stockmanship competence (SC) is defined as the capacity of the stockperson to ensure the welfare of his animals by providing his animals' needs. The study was conducted to evaluate the SC of backyard goat raisers and examine its relationship to goat productivity and economic profitability. There were 101 respondents for this study who have all undertaken farmer livestock school on integrated goat management (FLS-IGM). Interview was conducted in Region I, Philippines on September 3 to 30, 2012 and March 4 to 17, 2013. Data on SC, goat productivity and farmer's income were gathered. Questions regarding SC were formulated based on the Philippine Recommendations for Goat Production and from other scientific literature. Housing, feeding, breeding and health and husbandry management were the indicators used in computing stockmanship competence index score (SCIS). Pearson correlation using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was carried out to analyse the relationship between SCIS, productivity and income. Based from the results of the study, a majority of the respondents raised native and upgraded goats. The computed mean SCIS before and after undergoing FLS-IGM were 38.52% and 75.81% respectively, a percentage difference of 65.23%. Both index scores resulted in significant differences in productivity and income. The median mature weight and mortality rate of goats before FLS-IGM was 14 kg and 30% respectively. After FLS-IGM, median mature weight was 19 kg and mortality rate decreased from 30% to 11.11%. Likewise, fewer goat diseases were observed by farmers who were able to undergo FLS-IGM. With regard to income, there was a 127.34% difference on the median net income derived by farmers. Result implies that improved SC could lead not only to increased productivity and income of backyard goat raisers but also to better animal welfare.