• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.779-783
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• 2006

The adiponectin gene is known to be involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis involving food intake, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Human adiponectin gene polymorphisms have been recently reported to be associated with obesity, insulin sensitivity and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The present study was carried out to investigate the porcine adiponectin gene as a candidate gene for fat deposition and carcass traits. A mutation of A178G of the porcine adiponectin gene that resulted in substitution of the amino acid Isoleucine to Valine was identified. AcyI PCR-RFLP was used to detect the polymorphism of the genotypes in five different pig populations (Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Chinese breeds Meishan and Qingping). The A allele frequency was significantly higher among subjects from Chinsese lard type breeds, while the G allele was the only one present in those from Western lean type breeds. To determine if there was an association of the polymorphism with phenotypic variation, the mutation was tested in 267 pigs of the "Large $White{\times}Meishan$" F2 resource population. The results of association analyses showed significant associations of the genotypes with fat deposition and carcass traits. Allele G was significantly associated with increase in loin eye height, loin eye area and lean meat percentage and bone percentage, and decrease in fat mean percentage, ratio of lean to fat, shoulder fat thickness, 6-7 rib fat thickness, thorax-waist fat thickness and buttock fat thickness. The substitution of A178G (Ile60Val) happened to be located at amino acid 60 in the collagenous domain of porcine adiponectin which might affect the association into higher-order structures, and accordingly affect the posttranslational modifications and optimal biological activity of the multimeric forms. The identified functional polymorphism provides new evidence of adiponectin as an important candidate gene affecting fat deposition and carcass traits in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 2008

A study was conducted to evaluate nutritional value for twenty-one pork muscles. Ten market-weight crossbred pigs (five gilts and five barrows) were used for evaluating proximate chemical composition, cholesterol, total iron, calorie and fatty acid contents. As preliminary analysis revealed no noticeable sex effect, pooled data from both sexes were used for the final analysis. M. rectus femoris had the highest moisture content, while m. latissimus dorsi was lowest in moisture content (p<0.05). Protein content was highest for m. longissimus dorsi and lowest for m. supraspinatus (p<0.05). The tensor fasciae and latissimus dorsi muscles contained the highest intramuscular fat (p<0.05), while rectus femoris, adductor and vastus lateralis were lowest in intramuscular fat content. When simple correlations between chemical values were computed for the pooled dataset from all muscles, intramuscular fat had significant (p<0.05) negative linear relationships with moisture (r = -0.85) and protein (r = -0.51) contents. Calorie levels were not significantly affected by fat content, while rectus femoris and latissimus dorsi muscles showed lowest and highest calorie contents, respectively (p<0.05). Polyunsaturated fatty acid content was highest (p<0.05) for both m. adductor and m. rectus femoris, while it was lowest for m. longissimus dorsi. Collectively, the current study identified a large amount of variation in nutritional characteristics between pork muscles, and the data can be used for the development of muscle-specific strategies to improve eating quality of meats and meat products.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.206-215
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• 2009

This experiment was carried out to evaluate performance and carcass characteristics of 40 crossbred young bulls ($Zebu{\times}European$) finished in a feedlot under two roughage sources (Bermuda grass hay or sorghum silage) with or without the addition of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae). The bulls were 20 months old, their initial average weight was 356 kg and they were allocated into four groups of ten animals. The experimental diets were Bermuda grass, Bermuda grass+yeast, sorghum silage and sorghum silage +yeast. Animal performance and carcass characteristics were not influenced by roughage source or yeast addition. The average daily weight gain was 1.50 kg, dry matter intake (DMI) was 11.1 kg/d, DMI as percentage of liveweight was 2.60% and feed dry matter conversion was 7.70. The mean dressing percentage was 52.0% and hot carcass weight was 268 kg. Carcass conformation was classified between good-minus to good. Carcass length (137 cm), leg length (72.9 cm) and cushion thickness (26.6 cm) were not influenced by treatments. The average fat thickness was 3.80 mm and the Longissimus muscle area was 66.9 $cm^{2}$. The classification of color, texture and marbling were slightly dark red to red, fine and slight-minus to light-typical, respectively. The mean percentage of bone, muscle and fat in the carcass was 15.5%, 62.3% and 22.5%, respectively. Yeast addition increased ${\gamma}$-linolenic fatty acid (0.15 vs. 0.11%) deposition. Bermuda grass hay increased deposition of ${\alpha}$-linolenic (0.49 vs. 0.41%), arachidonic (2.30 vs. 1.57%), eicosapentaenoic (0.41 vs. 0.29%), docosapentaenoic (0.80 vs. 0.62%), docosahexaenoic (0.11 vs. 0.06%) and n-3 fatty acids, and reduced n-6: n-3 ratio in meat, when compared to sorghum silage treatments. The treatments had no effect on saturated fatty acids (49.5%), polyunsaturated fatty acids (11.8%), n-6 fatty acids (9.87%), n-3 (1.61%) and PUFA:SFA ratio (0.24). Monounsaturated fatty acid levels were higher on sorghum silage (40.7 vs. 37.7%). The addition of yeast caused higher n-6: n-3 ratio (7.28 vs. 5.70) than treatments without yeast.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.651-662
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• 1996

A 15-week growth trial was conducted in flow-through aquarium system to develop practical feeds for growing Korean rockfish. Two replicate groups of the fish averaging 114 g were fed one of nine diets containing $45\~50\%$ crude protein from various practical ingredients such as fish meal, meat meal, feather meal, blood meal, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, and wheat flour with or without supplemental essential amino acids (EAA) or enzyme mixture. The dietary EAA were adjusted by considering EAA composition of each dietary protein source, A/E ratio (each essential amino $acid\times1000/total$ essential amino arid including Cys and Tyr) calculated using Ah composition of the Korean rockfish whole body and the EAA requirement of other fish. Results indicate that animal and plant protein sources could substitute for fish meal up to $50\%$ in the diets, and the supplementation of amino acids and enzyme mixture have no beneficial effects on fish performance. Fish growth, body composition, nutrient utilization, and cost of fish production are discussed in relation to nutritional values of the protein sources used in diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1197-1205
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• 2006

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of feeding DL-2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid (HMTBA) and DL-methionine (DLM) supplemented corn-soybean-cottonseed meal diets on growth performance, carcass composition, and muscle color of broilers. The trial was designed as a $2{\times}3{\times}2$ factorial experiment, including two methionine (Met) sources (HMTBA and DLM), three equimolar graded levels of Met supplementation (i.e., 0.08, 0.16, and 0.24% in the starter diet and 0.07, 0.14, and 0.21% in the grower and finisher diets, respectively), and two sexes (male and female). Additionally, one basal diet for each sex was formulated to be limiting in Met to test the dosage response of increasing supplemental Met levels. Four hundred and twenty 10-d-old broilers were randomly allotted to 14 treatments (seven each for males and females), with five replicate pens per treatment and six chicks per pen. There was no difference (p>0.05) between the two Met sources in growth performance and muscle deposition of broilers throughout the whole experimental period (d 10 to 49). With the increasing Met supplementation levels, average daily gain was increased (quadratic; p<0.01) during the starter, grower, and overall phases, average daily feed intake was increased (quadratic; p<0.01) during the starter phase, and feed:gain ratio was decreased (quadratic; p<0.05) during the grower and overall phases. At the end of finisher phase, Met supplementation increased breast muscle content (quadratic; p<0.01) and thigh muscle content (linear; p<0.05), and decreased abdominal fat content (quadratic; p<0.02). Compared to the broiler fed DLM, broilers fed HMTBA had superior breast and thigh muscle coloration (p<0.01). Male broilers had higher weight gain and feed intake and better feed conversion than female broilers (p<0.01). The fat content of thigh muscle in female broilers was higher than that of male broilers (p<0.03). The best fit comparison of HMTBA vs. DLM was determined by Schwarz Bayesian Criteria index, which indicated that the average relative bioefficacy of HMTBA vs. DLM was 120% with 95% confidence limit 67 to 172%. These results indicated that Met supplementation improved growth performance and carcass quality of broilers fed corn-soybean-cottonseed meal diets irrespective of Met sources. Compared to DLM, HMTBA has the same molar bioefficacy on improving the growth performance and carcass quality of broilers; however, HMTBA fed birds had superior meat color to DLM fed birds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.324-328
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• 2006

Carbonic anhydrase III (CA3) is a member of a multigene family that encode carbonic anhydrase isozymes. In this study, a complete coding sequence of the pig CA3 gene which encodes a 260 amino-acid protein was determined. The amino acid comparison showed high sequence similarities with previously identified human (86.5%) CA3 gene and mouse (91.5%) Car3 gene. The partial genomic DNA sequences were also investigated. The length of intron 1 was 727 bp. Comparative sequencing of three pig breeds revealed that there was a T${\rightarrow}$C substitution at position 363 within intron 1. The substitution was situated within a NcoI recognition site and was developed as a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) marker for further use in population variation investigations and association analysis. Two alleles (A and B) were identified, and 617 bp fragments were observed for the AA genotype and 236 bp and 381 bp fragments for the BB genotype. The polymorphism of CA3 was detected in 8 pig breeds. Allele B was predominant in the Western pig breeds. In addition, association studies of the CA3 polymorphism with carcass traits in 140 $Yorkshire{\times}Meishan$ $F_2$ offspring showed that the NcoI PCR- RFLP genotype may be associated with variation in several carcass traits of interest for pig breeding. Allele B was associated with increases in lean meat percentage, loin eye height and loin eye area. Statistically significant association with backfat thickness was also found; pigs with the AB genotype had much less backfat thickness than AA or BB genotypes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.862-869
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• 2015

The current study was designed to estimate the pork quality traits using metabolites from exsanguination blood and postmortem muscle simultaneously under the Korean standard pre- and post-slaughter conditions. A total of 111 Yorkshire (pure breed and castrated male) pigs were evaluated under the Korean standard conditions. Measurements were taken of the levels of blood glucose and lactate at exsanguination, and muscle glycogen and lactate content at 45 min and 24 h postmortem. Certain pork quality traits were also evaluated. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis including stepwise regression were performed. Exsanguination blood glucose and lactate levels were positively correlated with each other, negatively related to postmortem muscle glycogen content and positively associated with postmortem muscle lactate content. A rapid and extended postmortem glycolysis was associated with high levels of blood glucose and lactate, with high muscle lactate content, and with low muscle glycogen content during postmortem. In addition, these were also correlated with paler meat color and reduced water holding capacity. The results of multiple regression analyses also showed that metabolites in exsanguination blood and postmortem muscle explained variations in pork quality traits. Especially, levels of blood glucose and lactate and content of muscle glycogen at early postmortem were significantly associated with an elevated early glycolytic rate. Furthermore, muscle lactate content at 24 h postmortem alone accounted for a considerable portion of the variation in pork quality traits. Based on these results, the current study confirmed that the main factor influencing pork quality traits is the ultimate lactate content in muscle via postmortem glycolysis, and that levels of blood glucose and lactate at exsanguination and contents of muscle glycogen and lactate at postmortem can explain a large portion of the variation in pork quality even under the standard slaughter conditions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.316-327
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• 2007

In this study, a Korean native cattle strain (Hanwoo) evidencing high performance in terms of both meat quality and quantity was employed in the generation of 150,000 BAC clones with an average insert size of 140 kb, and corresponding to about a 6X coverage of bovine chromosomal DNA. The BAC clones were pooled in a mini-scale via three rounds of a pooling protocol, and the efficiency of this pooling protocol was evaluated by testing the accuracy of accessibility to the positive clones, via a PCR-based screening method. Two sets of primers designed from each of two known genes were tested, and each yielded 2 or 3 positive clones for each gene, thereby indicating that the BAC library pooling system was appropriate with regard to the accession of the target BAC clones. Analyses of $3.3{\times}10^6$ base pairs obtained from the 7,090 BAC end sequence (BES) showed that 34.88% of the DNA sequence harbored the repetition sequence. Analysis of the 7,090 BES to the $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ generation radiation hybrid map of the cattle genome, using the COMPASS program designed for the construction of a cattle-human comparative mapping, resulted in the localization of a total of 1,374 clones proximal to 339 $1^{st}$ generation markers, and 1,721 clones proximal to 664 $2^{nd}$ generation markers. Collectively, the BAC library and pooling system of the BAC clones from the Korean cattle, coupled with the chromosome-localized BAC clones, will provide us with novel tools for the excavation of desired clones for genome mapping and sequencing, and will also furnish us with additional information regarding breed differences in cattle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1054-1059
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• 2009

This work was carried out to study the chemical and fatty acid composition of Longissimus muscle (LM) of crossbred young bulls finished in a feedlot. After weaning (at 8 months old), the bulls were kept in a feedlot for 180 days. The bulls were kept in individual pens and fed (twice daily) with corn silage, soybean hulls, cracked corn, limestone, urea and mineral salt. The bulls were slaughtered with a final weight of 464 kg. Forty bulls were used: 10 Caracu (CAR), 10 Canchim (CAN), 10 Caracu vs. Charolais (CCH) and 10 Canchim vs. Aberdeen Angus (CAA). The percentages of moisture, ash, crude protein, total lipids, as well as the fatty acid composition, were measured in the LM. The moisture percentage was lower (p<0.05) for bulls from CAA genetic group (71.2%) in comparison to bulls from CAR (74.2%), CAN (74.9%) and CCH (74.7%) genetic groups. On the other hand, there was no difference (p>0.05) among bulls from CAR, CAN and CCH genetic groups. Ash percentage was lower (p<0.05) for CAR bulls (0.96%) in comparison with the other genetic groups. There was no difference (p>0.05) among CAN, CCH and CAA genetic groups. Similarly, there was no difference (p>0.05) in crude protein among the different genetic groups. Total lipids percentage was higher (p<0.05) for CAA bulls (5.35%) and lower (p<0.05) for CAN (1.85%) and CCH (1.41%) genetic groups. Genetic group has little effect on the fatty acid composition of Longissimus muscle of bulls. However, CLA (C 18:2 c-9 t-11) percentage was higher (p<0.05) for CAR (0.33%) and CCH (0.37%) in comparison to CAN (0.27%) and CAA (0.29%) genetic groups. Saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-6 and n-3 percentages did not differ (p>0.05) among genetic groups. PUFA/SFA ratio ranged from 0.10 to 0.15, with no difference (p>0.05) among genetic groups. Similarly, n-6/n-3 ratio ranged from 12.6 to 16.3, without difference (p>0.05) among genetic groups.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.943-954
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• 2009

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) is a key enzyme that catalyzes the final and rate-limiting step of triglyceride synthesis. Both DGAT1 and DGAT2 genes code proteins with DGAT activity. Studies have shown DGAT1 polymorphisms associate with intramuscular fat deposition in beef cattle, but fewer associations between DGAT2 and beef cattle economic traits have been reported. The objective of this study was to investigate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in intron3 of bovine DGAT2 and evaluate the associations of that with carcass, meat quality, and fat yield traits. Test animals were 157 commercial feedlot steers belonging to 3 Chinese native breeds (22 for Luxi, 24 for Jinnan, and 23 for Qinchuan), 3 cross populations (20 for Charolais${\times}$Fuzhou, 18 for Limousin ${\times}$Luxi, and 17 for Simmental${\times}$Jinan) and 1 Taurus pure breed population (16 Angus steers). In the current study, 15 SNP were discovered in intron3 and exon4 of DGAT2 at positions 65, 128, 178, 210, 241, 255, 270, 312, 328, 334, 365, 366, 371, 415, and 437 (named as their positions in PCR amplified fragments). Only 7 of them (128, 178, 241, 270, 312, 328, and 371) were analyzed, because SNP in three groups (65-128-255, 178-210-365 and 241-334-366) were in complete linkage disequilibrium within the group, and SNP 415 was a deletion and 437 was a null mutation. Frequencies for rare alleles in the 3 native breed populations were higher than in the 3 cross populations for 178 (p = 0.04), 270 (p = 0.001), 312 (p = 0.03) and 371 (p = 0.002). A general linear model was used to evaluate the associations between either SNP genotypes or allele substitutions and the measured traits. Results showed that SNP 270 had a significant association with the fat yield associated with kidney, pelvic cavity, heart, intestine, and stomach (KPHISY). Animals with genotype CC and CT for 270 had less (CC: -7.71${\pm}$3.3 kg and CT: -5.34${\pm}$2.5 kg) KPHISY than animals with genotype TT (p = 0.02). Allele C for 270 was associated with an increase of -4.26${\pm}$1.52 kg KPHISY (p = 0.006) and $-0.92{\pm}0.45%$ of retail cuts weight percentage (NMP, Retail cuts weight/slaughter body weight) (p = 0.045); allele G for 312 was associated with an increase of -5.45${\pm}$2.41 kg KPHISY (p = 0.026). An initial conclusion was that associations do exist between DGAT2 gene and carcass fat traits. Because of the small sample size of this study, it is proposed that further effort is required to validate these findings in larger populations.