• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.693-699
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• 2010

Imprinted genes are essential for fetal development, growth regulation, and postnatal behavior. However, little is known about imprinted genes in livestock. We hypothesized that certain putatively imprinted genes affected normal peri-implantation development such as embryo elongation, initial placental development, and preparation of implantation. The objective of the present study was to investigate the mRNA expression patterns of several putatively imprinted genes during the porcine peri-implantation stages from day 6 to day 21 of gestation. Imprinted genes were selected both maternally (Dlk1, IGF2, Ndn, and Sgce) and paternally (IGF2r, H19, Gnas and Xist). Here, we report that the maternally imprinted gene IGF2 was expressed from day 6 (Blastocyst stage), but Dlk1, Ndn, and Sgce were not expressed in this stage. These genes were first expressed between days 12 and day 14. All the maternally imprinted genes studied showed significantly high expression patterns from day 18 of embryo development. In contrast, paternally imprinted genes IGF2r, H19, Gnas, and Xist were first expressed from day 6 of embryo development (BL). Our data demonstrated that the expression of H19 and Gnas genes was significantly increased from day 14 of the embryo developmental stage, while IGF2r and Xist only showed high expression after day 21. This study is the first to show that the putatively imprinted genes were stage-specific during porcine embryonic development. These results demonstrate that the genes studied may exert important effects on embryo implantation and fetal development.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1157-1163
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• 2011

This study was conducted to determine the effect of the inclusion of different levels of ensiled cassava leaves (variety KM94) in the diets on performance and carcass characteristics of growing pigs in Vietnam. A total of 40 crossbreds pigs (Large White${\times}$Mong Cai, 20 males and 20 females) with an initial live weight of 23.5 kg (SD = 0.86) were randomly allocated to one of the four pens across 5 units. Four experimental diets were formulated for two growth periods, period 1 (60 days) for 20 to 50 kg and period 2 lasted 30 days, from 50 kg until slaughter. Four diets were formulated containing inclusion levels of ensiled cassava KM94 leaves diet of 0, 10, 15 and 20% in the DM. Diets were formulated based on previously determined ileal amino acid digestibility values of the KM94 products and were isonitrogenous and isocaloric on a metabolizable energy basis. Each pen of pigs was randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments. Dry matter intake and final weight tended to decreased with increasing levels of ensiled cassava KM94 leaves in the diet while there was a significant (p = 0.022) decrease in average daily gain. Protein depositions of the F1 pigs tended (p = 0.093) to decrease with increasing inclusion levels of ensiled cassava KM94 leaves. There was no significant difference in feed conversion ratio, carcass quality and fat gain between the groups of pigs. There were clear differences in feed costs among the experimental diets (p = 0.001) with increasing levels of ensiled cassava KM 94 leaves in the diet reducing feed costs. It was concluded that, in diets for growing pig, inclusion of ensiled cassava leaves reduces growth rate of pigs in Vietnam but increases profitability as measured by feed costs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.338-346
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• 2017

Objective: This study was conducted to identify and evaluate the effective single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for fat deposition in the longissimus dorsi muscles of pigs using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) approach. Methods: Sixty-four selective primer combinations were used to identify the AFLP markers in the 20 highest- and 20 lowest-intramuscular fat (IMF) content phenotypes. Five AFLP fragments were converted into simple codominant SNP markers. These SNP markers were tested in terms of their association with IMF content and fatty acid (FA) composition traits in 620 commercially crossbred pigs. Results: The SSC7 g.4937240C>G marker showed an association with IMF content (p<0.05). The SSC9 g.5496647_5496662insdel marker showed a significant association with IMF content and arachidonic levels (p<0.05). The SSC10 g.71225134G>A marker revealed an association with palmitoleic and ${\omega}9$ FA levels (p<0.05), while the SSC17 g.61976696G>T marker showed a significant association with IMF content and FA levels of palmitoleic, eicosenoic, arachidonic, monounsaturated fatty acids, and ${\omega}9$ FA levels. However, no significant association of SSC8 g.47338181G>A was observed with any IMF and FA levels in this study. Conclusion: Four SNP markers (SSC7 g.4937240C>G, SSC9 g.5496647_5496662insdel, SSC10 g.71225134G>A, and SSC17 g.61976696G>T) were found to be associated with IMF and/or FA content traits in commercially crossbred pigs. These findings provide evidence of the novel SNP markers as being potentially useful for selecting pigs with the desirable IMF content and FA composition.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1756-1760
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• 2016

Estimation of feed intake (FI) for individual animals within a pen is needed in situations where more than one animal share a feeder during feeding trials. A partitioning method (PM) was previously published as a model to estimate the individual FI (IFI). Briefly, the IFI of a pig within the pen was calculated by partitioning IFI into IFI for maintenance ($IFI_m$) and IFI for growth. In the PM, $IFI_m$ is determined based on the metabolic body weight (BW), which is calculated using the coefficient of 106 and exponent of 0.75. Two simulation studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that the use of different coefficients and exponents for metabolic BW to calculate $IFI_m$ improves the accuracy of the estimates of IFI for pigs, and that PM is applied to pigs fed in group-housing systems. The accuracy of prediction represented by difference between actual and estimated IFI was compared using PM, ratio (RM), or averaging method (AM). In simulation studies 1 and 2, the PM estimated IFI better than the AM and RM during most of the periods (p<0.05). The use of 0.60 as the exponent and the coefficient of 197 to calculate metabolic BW did not improve the accuracy of the IFI estimates in both simulation studies 1 and 2. The results imply that the use of $197kcal{\times}kg\;BW^{0.60}$ as metabolizable energy for maintenance in PM does not improve the accuracy of IFI estimations compared with the use of $106kcal{\times}kg\;BW^{0.75}$ and that the PM estimates the IFI of pigs with greater accuracy compared with the averaging or ratio methods in group-housing systems.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2020

Objective: The objective of a conservation program is to maintain maximum genetic diversity and preserve the viability of a breed. However, the efficiency of a program is influenced by the ability to accurately measure and predict genetic diversity. Methods: To examine this question, we conducted a simulation in which common measures (i.e. heterozygosity) and novel measures (identity-by-descent probabilities and parental genomic components) were used to estimate genetic diversity within a conserved population using double-labeled single nucleotide polymorphism markers. Results: The results showed that the accuracy and sensitivity of identity-by-state probabilities and heterozygosity were close to identity by descent (IBD) probabilities, which reflect the true genetic diversity. Expected heterozygosity most closely aligned with IBD. All common measures suggested that practices used in the current Chinese pig conservation program result in a ~5% loss in genetic diversity every 10 generations. Parental genomic components were also analyzed to monitor real-time changes in genomic components for each male and female ancestor. The analysis showed that ~7.5% of male families and ~30% of female families were lost every 5 generations. After 50 generations of simulated conservation, 4 male families lost ~50% of their initial genomic components, and the genomic components for 24.8% of the female families were lost entirely. Conclusion: In summary, compared with the true genetic diversity value obtained using double-labeled markers, expected heterozygosity appears to be the optimal indicator. Parental genomic components analysis provides a more detailed picture of genetic diversity and can be used to guide conservation management practices.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.414-420
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• 2012

Forty guinea pigs were divided into four groups and fed 0.04% cholesterol based control diet, plus 0.05% simvastatin, and statin plus 0.1% CoQ10 or 10% Ardisia Japonica Blume (AJB) leave powder for 4 weeks. Plasma total cholesterol levels decreased significantly in all groups fed the statin-containing diet compared with that in guinea pigs fed the control diet (P < 0.01). Plasma and liver triglycerides decreased significantly in the statin plus CoQ10 group compared with those in the control (both P < 0.05). Maximum platelet aggregation was significantly higher in the statin plus CoQ10 group than that in the other groups (P < 0.05). Na-K ATPase activity increased in the statin group and decreased in the statin plus CoQ10 group (P < 0.01). Na-K co-transport and Na passive transport decreased significantly in the control group compared with those in the other groups (both P < 0.05). Intracellular Na was highest in the statin group and lowest in the statin plus CoQ10 group and was correlated with Na-K ATPase activity. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance production in platelet-rich plasma and liver tended to decrease in the statin plus CoQ10 group compared with those in the other groups. Plasma glutamic-pyruvic transaminase and glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase increased significantly in the statin group compared with those in the control (P < 0.05). These result suggest that antioxidant rich AJB did not have positive effects on cardiovascular disease parameters. The statin plus CoQ10 seemed to decrease cholesterol more efficiently than that of statin alone.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1003-1010
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• 2005

A study consisting of 3 trials was designed to assess the relative biological efficacy of DL-methionine (DL-Met) in comparison to liquid methionine hydroxy analogue (MHA-FA) in growing pigs. In trial I a basal diet was supplemented with three graded levels of DL-methionine (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 g/kg) or liquid MHA-FA (0.0285, 0.0570 and 0.0855 g/kg) on equimolar basis. The basal diet contained 18.3% CP, 0.22% Met and 0.51% Met+Cys, which is below the methionine requirement for weaned pigs between 10 and 20 kg BW according to NRC (1998) but adequate in all other essential nutrients and energy. Using an exponential model, the efficacy of the two methionine sources was estimated from nitrogen retention data obtained in 42 piglets with an initial BW between 11.0 kg (Exp. 1) and 11.7 kg (Exp. 2). In trials II and III, with a total of 192 and 96 pigs, and with an initial BW of 10.6 and 21 kg, respectively, growth response criteria were assessed to determine if in agreement with previous studies in pigs and poultry a biological effectiveness of about 65% on average could be confirmed for liquid MHA-FA in comparison to DL-met. Based on N-retention (trial I) the biological efficacy of liquid MHA-FA on a weight-to-weight basis was calculated to be 62% relative to DL-met. Basically, these results were confirmed using growth response criteria as measures; the results of trial II and III revealed no significant differences in growth performance and feed conversion between treatments indicating that 100 parts of liquid MHA-FA can be replaced by 65 parts of DL-met.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.428-433
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to investigate the histochemical parameters of muscle fibers, and to estimate the correlation between these histological parameters and carcass traits in pigs. A total of 230 crossbred Duroc$\times$(Yorkshire$\times$Landrace) pigs (149 gilts and 81 castrated male pigs) was evaluated. Carcass traits (carcass weight, backfat thickness, and loin eye area), muscle fiber size (crosssectional area, diameter, and perimeter), muscle fiber number (density of fibers/$mm^2$ and total number of fibers), and fiber type composition (percentages of myofibers and relative areas of each fiber type) were evaluated. Mean cross-sectional area (CSA) and type IIB fiber CSA were positively correlated to carcass weight, backfat thickness and loin eye area. Mean fiber CSA was mostly related to type IIB CSA (r=0.98) as a result of the high percentage of type IIB fibers in the longissimus muscle. Correlations between fiber diameters and perimeters were also high, and showed similar results with CSA. Mean fiber density was negatively correlated to carcass weight (r=-0.24), backfat thickness (r=-0.18) and loin eye area (r=-0.27). To the contrary, total fiber number was positively correlated with carcass weight (r=0.27) and loin eye area (r=0.53). Carcass weight and loin eyZe area were not significantly related to muscle fiber composition. For backfat thickness, there was an opposition between type IIA percentage, which was positively related and type IIB percentage, which was negatively related. Fiber type composition of type I and IIA fibers were negatively correlated to that of type IIB fibers (r=-0.67 to -0.74). In the present study, carcass weight and loin eye area were positively correlated to CSA and negatively correlated to fiber density. But, these relationships were generally low. The fiber density was strongly affected by muscle fiber size and the total fiber number was affected either by CSA of muscle fiber and loin eye area. Fiber type composition was much more related to their numerical abundance than their CSA.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.379-385
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• 2004

Two trials in vivo and in vitro were conducted, in vivo to determine the apparent digestibility of gross energy, crude protein, dry matter, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber and apparent digestible energy in 10 corn by-products. In vivo the diets included one basal corn diet, four corn gluten meal diets, four corn distillers dried grains with solubles diets and two corn distillers dried grains diets using the different methods, 12 crossbred barrows weigh $40{\pm}$1.6 kg were allocated into individual metabolic crate, according to a $6{\times}6$ Latin square design. In vitro using flask technique, filter bag technique and dialysis tubing technique, the digestibilities of gross energy, crude protein and dry matter in corn gluten meal and corn distillers dried grains with solubles were investigated. Pepsin, pancreatin, intestinal fluid, rumen fluid and cellulase were used in incubation. The results showed that correlation coefficient was 0.73 in corn distillers dried grains with solubles between the digestibility of crude protein and acid detergent fiber in vivo (p<0.01); and correlation coefficient was 0.68 in corn distillers dried grains with solubles between the digestibility of gross energy and neutral detergent fiber in vivo (p<0.01). Apparent digestible energy (DE) of corn by-products in pig total tract was predicted by the percentage of crude protein (CP) and the content of gross energy (GE) in feedstuff. The equation: DE=5,601.09+26.69$\times$CP %-0.5904$\times$GE, ($R^2=0.72$). In vitro, filter bag technique was more convenient; furthermore, the digestibility for the treatments (pepsin+pancreatin+rumen fluid and pepsin+pancreatin+cellulase) was better.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 1991

Four fibrous feedstuffs from alfalfa meal (AFM), cassava leaf meal (CLM), rubber seed meal (RSM) and leucaena meal (LM) were included in semi-purified diets for growing pig (45 kg body wt.) at 20%, to investigate the effects of these fiber sources and fractions on amino acid digestibility. Cellulose (C), a purified fiber source was included in another diet at 5% level for comparison. The barrows fitted with ileal T-cannula were used in the digestion trials with latin square design. The digestibilities of amino acids were measured at both terminal ileum and fecal level. NDF and hemicellulose content were the highest in AFM-diet whereas LM-diet had the highest ADF and lignin content. RSM-diet contained the highest crude fiber and cellulose content. The digestibilities of amino acids at ileal level were found the highest with CLM-diet, while LM-diet was the least. At fecal level, control diet and CLM-diet were the highest in amino acid digestibility while AFM-diet was the least. The digestibility of amino acids was higher at ileal than fecal level. The digestibility of arginine was not affected with fiber fractions but was found to be the most disestible across all diets. The most depressed amino acid was methionine at both levels; praline and glycine, in the dispensable amino acid group, were depressed at ileal and fecal level, respectively. Lignin did not depress amino acid digestibility in general but specifically depressed methionine, histidine, isoleucine and threonine digestibility. Cellulose content did not affect amino acid digestibility but undesirable factors might be responsible.