• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.237-245
• /
• 2010

Only an optimum number of viable spermatozoa in a frozen-thawed insemination dose can ensure conception at artificial insemination (AI). We report here the percentages of normal, abnormal and viable spermatozoa present in the frozen-thawed semen of 20 Black Bengal bucks used for commercial AI. Bucks in this experiment were of 19.3~46.1 months old and 25~42 kg body weight. Four semen straws (0.25 ml) from each buck were collected for evaluation of their kinetic parameters. Scrotal circumference was measured by using a scrotal tape, sperm motility was estimated on eye estimation and sperm concentration was determined by using a haemocytometer. Sperm morphology was studied in paraformaldehyde fixed spermatozoa under differential interference contrast (DIC) microscope. To determine the proportion of live (plasma membrane intact) spermatozoa, semen was stained with SYBR-14 and propidium iodide and examined under fluorescent microscope. Scrotal circumference, post-thaw sperm motility, sperm concentration per insemination dose and proportion of normal spermatozoa were $21.5{\pm}0.7\;cm$, $43.5 {\pm}5.4%$, $83.5{\pm}6.7$ million and $88.3{\pm}4.1%$, respectively. The percentages of spermatozoa with head shape and acrosome abnormalities were lower ($2.7{\pm}1.1$ and $1.4{\pm}1.3$, respectively), whereas higher percentages of abnormalities ($7.0{\pm}1.8$) were observed in mid piece and tail portion. The proportion of live spermatozoa was $28.5{\pm}5.4$. It is concluded that although a good number of morphologically normal spermatozoa are present in the insemination dose, the proportion of live spermatozoa is low, which warrants further improvements of buck semen freezing procedures to ensure good quality at AI.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.300-308
• /
• 1972

For the purpose of utilizing agricultural waste products for animal feeds, chemical analysis of some important agricultural wastes in Korea and enzymatic hydrolysis of rice hull were undertaken and summarized as follows: 1) Rice hull and straws of rice, barley and wheat were analyzed for their proximate principles and carbohydrate composition. 2) A strain of Aspergillus niger was selected as having the highest productivity of rice hull decomposing activity among many species of molds. The optimum conditions for the culture on washed wheat bran were. 3 days of culture period, 55% moisture content and neutral pH and one hour was proper for the extraction of enzymes. 3) The extent of hydrolysis of xylan and rice hull by a crude enzyme preparation from this strain was 63% and 7%, respectively, and the optimum pH for its activity was 4.0 and 4.5, respectively. 4) Enzymatic hydrolysis of rice hull was generally suppressed by gamma-ray irradiation ($0.5{\sim}5\;Mrad$, in dry state), but the effect was less by irradiation in wet state.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.363-368
• /
• 2004

To investigate the effects of seeding during freezing procedure on post-thaw viability, motility, and acrosome integrity of boar spermatozoa, semen from 5 Yorkshire boars were collected for this experiment. Raw semen were diluted with Merck I, subsequently added with cooling diluent containing lactose and egg yolk and with freezing diluent containing glycerol. The diluted semen were frozen on the rack in the styrofoam box filled with liquid nitrogen at the distance of 5 cm or I cm above LN2 level. Seeding was performed to only a group of straws frozen at 5 cm away on the surface of LN2. The frozen semen were thawed in $50^{\circ}C$C water and the viability and local motility were analyzed by sperm analysis imaging system. A part of thawed semen was taken for the examination of morphology of apical ridge of the acrosome to compare with the effect of seeding between the seeding-treated and non treated groups. I. Post-thaw viability was considerably higher in seeding-treated sperm than non-seeding group (p<0.01), however, no difference of local motility was obtained among the groups. 2. At three hours after thawing, viability was also higher in seeding-treated group than non-treated group (p<0.05), along with no difference of motility among the groups. 3. Higher normal acrosome integrity was obtained in the seeding-treated sperm than non-treated groups (p<0.01). 4. Between non-seeded groups, higher normal acrosome integrity was obtained in the sperm group frozen at 5cm upper on the surface of LN2 than that frozen at 1cm away (p<0.01). These results indicated that seeding treatment during freezing boar spermatozoa was beneficial to post-thaw viability and normal acrosome integrity.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 2008

Aqueous thermal liquefaction of rice, barley, wheat, and rapeseed straws was investigated to compare the amount of heavy oil with catalysts such as $K_2CO_3$, NaOH and KOH in the reaction temperature at $320^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes. The reaction was carried out in a 5,000ml liquefaction system with dispenser and external electrical furnace. Raw materials (160g), 2,000ml of distilled water and 10% (wt/wt) of catalyst to plant residue were fed into the reactor. It was observed that the maximum heavy oil yield was about 29% from the feeding stock, barley straw, with addition of KOH. The caloric values of crude oil from different crop residues were ranged from 55% to 66% relative to the raw materials depend on crop residue. It was appeared that its maximum calorific value from wheat straw was approximately 6190 kcal/kg.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.43-47
• /
• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate the ecological characteristics of Protaetia orientalis submarmorea (Burmeister). The emergence period of adults is appeared from April to October, and most abundant in July∼August, once a year in the field. Hibernation took place mostly in larval stage, but some in adult stage, and were generally found in the decayed rice straws and in the soil covered with compost or similar materials with average depth of 17.6 cm The developmental characteristics in the insectary (28$^{\circ}C$, 70% RH, 16L: 8D) was investigated: the average number of eggs laid per female is 82.8, egg period 8.4 days, 1st instars of larva 10.6, 2nd 18.7, 3rd 38.1, and pupal period 35.5 days. Longevity of the adult was 135.2 days In the female and 121. 7days in the male.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.231-243
• /
• 2015

Four different paddy soils collected around the Gyeongju nuclear site were treated with $^{99}TcO_4{^-}$ solution under the assumption of two contrasting contamination scenarios. Scenario I (SN-I) is for a pre-transplanting deposition of $^{99}Tc$ followed by plowing, whereas SN-II is for its deposition onto the water surface shortly after transplanting. Rice plants were grown in lysimeters in a greenhouse. Plant uptake of $^{99}Tc$ was quantified with the $TF_{area}$ ($m^2{\cdot}kg^{-1}-dry$). The SN-II $TF_{area}$ values for straws and brown rice, having been generally higher than the SN-I values, were within the ranges of $6.9{\times}10^{-3}{\sim}4.1{\times}10^{-2}$ and $5.2{\times}10^{-6}{\sim}7.3{\times}10^{-5}$, respectively. Sorption onto clay seems to have decreased $^{99}Tc$ uptake in SN-I, whereas it may have had an insignificant effect in SN-II. A phenomenon characteristic of submerged paddy soil, i.e., the development of a thin oxic surface layer may have greatly affected the rice uptake of SN-II $^{99}Tc$. The surface-water concentrations of $^{99}Tc$ were much higher in SN-II than in SN-I. For the percolating water, however, the opposite was generally true. At most 1.3% of the applied $^{99}Tc$ were leached through such percolation. The use of empirical deposition time-dependent $TF_{area}$ values was considered desirable in assessing the radiological impact of a growing-season deposition of $^{99}Tc$ onto paddy fields.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.145-153
• /
• 1999

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of vitrification solution and developmental stage on the survival rate of vitrified-thawed human blastocyst embryos. Human blastocyst embryos were cryopreserved by vitrification using EFS and GE solution, and their survival rates were examined after thawing and further culture. EFS solution was consisted of 40% ethylene glycol, 18% Ficoll 70 and 0.3M sucrose. GE solution was consisted of 25% glycerol and 25% ethylene glycol. Embryos were exposed to EFS and GE solution by 2 steps and 3 steps, respectively, and plunged into liquid nitrogen after loading into 0.25ml plastic straws. Blastocysts were classified into 4 groups in accordance with their developmental stage: into 1) EEB, 2) MEB and 3) EdB, of blastocysts developed on day 5, and 4) 6d-Bla(the blastocysts which formed on day 6). The blastocysts at each stage were vitrified by GE solution and cryopreserved in LN2. After thawing them, we examined their survival rates, respectively. The resulted of this study were as follows: 1. The survival rate of blastocysts vitrified by GE solution was 64.4%, significantly higher than that (5.7%) vitrified by EFS solution (P<0.001). 2. When the blastocysts were vitrified by GE solution according to each developmental stage, the survival rates of EEB, MEB, EdB and 6d-Bla were 65.9%, 65.9%, 73.2% and 58.1%, respectively. In conclusion, the cryopreservation of human blastocysts by vitrification is likely to have a marked advantage in terms of cost, work and time as compared to the conventional slow freezing in IVF-ET programs.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.307-313
• /
• 1997

Experiments were conducted to assess the effect of quality and viability of bovine blastocysts derived from in-vitro culture(IVC) of in vitro matured and fertilized(IVM-IVF) oocytes during their transport 2 hours. Follicular oocytes were collected form ovaries obtained at a slaughterhouse and were cultured for 24 hours in TCM-199. The IVM oocytes were fertilized in vitro with caudal epididymis spermatozoa. Fertilized oocytes were cultured for 7 to 9 days, and embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage were used for the experiment. The blastocysts, packed in straws with storage medium that consisted TCM-199 with HEPES equilibratd in air and supplemented with 10% FCS were transported at 39~(2.0 h). The quality of blastocysts was assessed and ranked as A(excel-lent), B(Good), fair or poor after transportation. The percentages of A and B grade blastocysts after transport duration for < 1 hours(97.7%) were similar to the result from transport duration for 1~2 hours (92.9%) and 2~3 hours(89.6%), but significantly(P<0.05) higher than transpot duration for 3~4 hours(76.3%). The percentages of A and B grade blastocysts after transport duration for two hours from developed blastocyst at 7day(100%) and 8day(85.0%) were higher 9day(96.6%) and >9day (40.0%). And early to expanded blastocyst produced in vitro were transferred to recipient cow by additional embryos at 7 and 8th day after AI. Three of them were pregnant to term and produced four twin calves, and two calves was premature birth. The gestation lengths of male to female and female to female twin were 282 and 281 days, respectively. And birth weight of twin calves were male to female(22.Skg) and female to female twin(20.3Okg), respectively.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.249-255
• /
• 2017

In this experiment, we determined the effect of curcumin supplementation in freezing buffer for miniature pig sperm cryopreservation. Each ejaculate was diluted with modified Modena B extender and mixed with lactose-egg yolk (LEY extender, 80% v/v lactose solution [310 mM], 20% v/v egg yolk, and $100{\mu}g/mL$ kanamycin sulfate) and LEY-glycerol Orvus ES Paste (LEYGO, 89.5% v/v LEY, 5% v/v glycerol, 1.5% v/v Orvus ES Paste), 100 mM trehalose supplemented with 0, 10, 50, 100, and $500{\mu}M$ of curcumin from turmeric, respectively. Following equilibration, the 0.5 mL French straws were frozen and plunged into $LN_2$ tank for 7 days at least. Sperm parameter and oxidative byproducts were determined by the computer assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) as compared with each groups. Supplementation of curcumin had no effect on sperm motility, progressive motility and curvilinear velocity. However, average-path velocity and straight-line velocity were significantly higher in $10{\mu}M$ curcumin group ($100.9{\pm}8.8{\mu}m/s$, $61.7{\pm}2.9{\mu}m/s$, respectively) than control group ($77.8{\pm}3.9{\mu}m/s$, $46.4{\pm}3.0{\mu}m/s$, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, the level of the O2 radical and H2O2 were comparatively decreased in curcumin groups by evaluation of ethidium and DCF fluorescence. According to the results, curcumin can improve sperm kinetic variables and alleviate ROS induced cryoinjury to pig sperm.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.159-163
• /
• 2017

The artificial insemination (AI) is one of the best assisted reproductive technologies for increasing reproductive capacity and facilitating the genetic improvement in farm animals. AI has been used in Uganda for over 60 years, but a small population of the total herd has been used. This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of AI with estrus synchronization technique and to propose ways of improving the productivity of dairy farms through AI services in Uganda. In total, 78 cows from 11 dairy farms were selected for timed-AI. Synchronization was performed according to the ovsynch programs followed by AI using frozen semen from Korean Holstein (0.5 ml straws). Pregnancy rate was varying among farms (0-50%) and the overall pregnancy rate was 28.2%. Cows in luteal phase at the time of treatment was 40.0% whereas that in follicular phase was 20.8%. After treatment, cows that showed normal estrus signal were 45.5% (25/55). Abnormal estrus was categorized into pre-estrus (9.1%), cystic ovaries (21.8%), anestrus (18.2%) and delayed ovulation (5.5%), respectively. These results imply that an assured protocol for timed-AI should be developed to improve the productivity of dairy farms through AI services in Uganda.