• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2022

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of gene polymorphisms and nongenetic factors on the somatic cell score (SCS) in the milk of Holstein (n = 148) and Simmental (n = 73) cows and their crosses (n = 6). Methods: The SCS was calculated by the formula SCS = log₂(SCC/100,000)+3, where SCC is the somatic cell count. Polymorphisms in the casein alpha S1 (CSN1S1), beta-casein (CSN2), kappa-casein (CSN3), beta-lactoglobulin (LGB), acyl-CoA diacylglycerol transferase 1 (DGAT1), leptin (LEP), fatty acid synthase (FASN), stearoyl CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), and 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 6 (AGPAT6) genes were genotyped, and association analysis to the SCS in the cow's milk was performed. Further, the impact of breed, farm, year, month of the year, lactation stage and parity on the SCS were analysed. Phenotype correlations among SCS and milk constituents were computed by Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: Only CSN2 genotypes A¹/A² were found to have significant association with the SCS (p<0.05), and alleles of CSN1S1 and DGAT1 genes (p<0.05). Other polymorphisms were not found to be significant. SCS had significant association with the combined effect of farm and year, lactation stage and month of the year. Lactation parity and breed had not significant association with SCS. The phenotypic correlation of SCS to lactose content was negative and significant, while the correlation to protein content was positive and significant. The correlations of SCS to fat, casein, nonfat solids, urea, citric acid, acetone and ketones contents were very low and not significant. Conclusion: Only CSN2 genotypes, CSN1S1 and DGAT1 alleles did show an obvious association to the SCS. The results confirmed the importance of general quality management of farms on the microbial milk quality, and effects of lactation stage and month of the year. The lactose content in milk reflects the health status of the udder.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1871-1880
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• 2022

Objective: The primary goal was to identify the effectiveness of chemical or biological additives in delaying the deterioration of early-harvested wilted rye silage after exposure to air. Methods: Rye harvested as a whole plant at the early heading stage was wilted for 24 h. The wilted forage was divided into treatments including sodium diacetate (SDA) at 3 (SDA3) and 6 g/kg (SDA6), Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), L. buchneri (LB), or their equal mixture (LP+LB) at 1×10⁶ colony-forming unit/g fresh matter. Results: After 60 d of conservation in 20-L silos, lactic acid was greater in LP and LP+LB silages than other treatments (102 vs 90.2 g/kg dry matter [DM]). Acetic acid was greatest in SDA6 (32.0 g/kg DM) followed by LB (26.1 g/kg DM) and was lowest in LP treatment (4.73 g/kg DM). Silage pH was lower with microbial inoculation and the lowest and highest values were observed in LP and untreated silages, respectively. After 60 d, neutral detergent fiber concentration was lowest in SDA6 silages, resulting in the greatest in vitro DM digestibility (846 g/kg DM). Aerobic stability was longest in SDA6 (176 h) followed by LB treatment (134 h). Instability after aerobiosis was greatest in LP silages (68 h), about 8 h less than untreated silages. After aerobic exposure, yeast and mold numbers were lowest in SDA6 silages, resulting in DM loss minimization. Exhaustion of acetic acid and lactic acid after aerobic exposure was lowest with SDA6 but greatest with untreated and LP silages. Conclusion: Treatment of early-cut wilted rye forage with SDA at 6 g/kg resulted in silages with higher feeding value and fermentation quality, and substantially delayed deterioration after aerobic exposure, potentially qualifying SDA at this load for promotion of silage quality and delaying aerobic spoilage of early-harvested (low DM) rye forage.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.730-739
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• 2022

Objective: This study investigated the effects of dietary n-6:n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratio on growth performance, blood indexes, tissue fatty acid composition and the gene expression in finishing pigs. Methods: Seventy-two crossbred ([Duroc×Landrace]×Yorkshire) barrows (68.5±1.8 kg) were fed one of four isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets with n-6:n-3 PUFA ratios of 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, and 8:1. Results: Average daily gain, average daily feed intake and gain-to-feed ratio had quadratic responses but the measurements were increased and then decreased (quadratic, p<0.05). The concentrations of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and interleukin 6 were linearly increased (p<0.05) with increasing of dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio, while that of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol tended to decrease (p = 0.062), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol:low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and leptin concentration were linearly decreased (p<0.05). The concentration of serum adiponectin had a quadratic response but the measurement was decreased and then increased (quadratic, p<0.05). The proportion of C18:3n-3 was linearly decreased (p<0.05) in the longissimus thoracis (LT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SCAT) as dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio increasing, while the proportion of C18:2n-6 and n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio were linearly increased (p<0.05). In addition, the expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and lipoprotein lipase in the LT and SCAT, and adipocyte fatty acid binding protein and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) in the SCAT had quadratic responses but the measurements were increased and then decreased (quadratic, p<0.05). The expression of HSL in the LT was linearly decreased (p<0.05) with increasing of dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio. Conclusion: Dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio could regulate lipid and fatty acid metabolism in blood and tissue. Reducing dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio (3:1) could appropriately suppress expression of related genes in PPARγ signaling, and result in improved growth performance and n-3 PUFA deposition in muscle and adipose tissue in finishing pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.451-460
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• 2023

Objective: This program aimed to reveal the association of feed intrinsic molecular structure with nutrient supply to animals from canola feedstocks and co-products from bio-oil processing. The special objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between molecular spectral feature and nutrient availability and develop nutrient prediction equation with vibrational molecular structure spectral profiles. Methods: The samples of feedstock (canola oil seeds) and co-products (meals and pellets) from different bio-oil processing plants in Canada (CA) and China (CH) were submitted to this molecular spectroscopic technique and their protein and carbohydrate related molecular spectral features were associated with the nutritional results obtained through the conventional methods of analyses for chemical and nutrient profiles, rumen degradable and intestinal digestible parameters. Results: The results showed that the spectral structural carbohydrates spectral peak area (ca. 1,487.8 to 1,190.8 cm^-1) was the carbohydrate structure that was most significant when related to various carbohydrate parameters of canola meals (p<0.05, r>0.50). And spectral total carbohydrate area (ca. 1,198.5 to 934.3 cm^-1) was most significant when studying the various carbohydrate parameters of canola seeds (p<0.05, r>0.50). The spectral amide structures (ca. 1,721.2 to 1,480.1 cm^-1) were related to a few chemical and nutrient profiles, Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) fractions, truly absorbable nutrient supply based on the Dutch protein system (DVE/OEB), and NRC systems, and intestinal in vitro protein-related parameters in co-products (canola meals). Besides the spectral amide structures, α-helix height (ca. 1,650.8 to 1,643.1 cm^-1) and β-sheet height (ca. 1,633.4 to 1,625.7 cm^-1), and the ratio between them have shown to be related to many protein-related parameters in feedstock (canola oil seeds). Multi-regression analysis resulted in moderate to high R² values for some protein related equations for feedstock (canola seeds). Protein related equations for canola meals and carbohydrate related equations for canola meals and seeds resulted in weak R² and low p values (p<0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, the attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy vibrational molecular spectroscopy can be a useful resource to predict carbohydrate and protein-relates nutritional aspects of canola seeds and meals.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.461-470
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• 2023

Objective: Sweet sorghum is an important forage crop for ruminants, especially in low rainfall areas. Grapeseeds are an abundant by-product of wine-making and contain bioactive substances that can improve the antioxidant capacity of meat. We examined the effect of sweet sorghum forage with supplementary grapeseeds on carcass and meat quality in lambs. Methods: Twenty-eight Small-tailed Han lambs (body weight = 19.1±1.20 kg), aged 3 to 4 months, were penned, and fed individually. The lambs were divided into four groups (n = 7 each) and were offered one of four diets: i) sweet sorghum silage; ii) sweet sorghum silage + grapeseeds; iii) sweet sorghum hay; and iv) sweet sorghum hay + grapeseeds. The grapeseeds were added to the concentrate at 6% DM and the diets were fed for 100 d. Results: Sweet sorghum silage tended (p = 0.068) to increase hot carcass weight, while grapeseeds tended (p = 0.081) to decrease dressing percentage without affecting other carcass parameters. Lambs consuming supplementary grapeseeds increased (p<0.05) meat redness and tended to decrease (p = 0.075) concentration of methionine in meat. Lambs consuming sweet sorghum silage increased (p<0.001) water content of the meat and had a lower (p<0.05) concentration of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio than lambs consuming sweet sorghum hay. Saturated fatty acids content in meat was lowest (p<0.05) in lambs consuming sweet sorghum silage with grapeseeds. Lambs with supplementary grapeseeds tended (p<0.10) to increase eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid and have a lower thrombogenic index than lambs not consuming grapeseeds. Conclusion: It was concluded that sweet sorghum with supplementary grapeseeds fed to lambs; i) improved the color of the meat to be more appetizing to the consumer; ii) tended to improve the fatty acids composition of the meat; and iii) lowered thrombogenic index of the meat.

• Women's Studies Review
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.139-173
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• 2012

This paper examines the delayed situations for gender equality in South Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese families despite the challenge to the gender division of labor in modern society, and to analyze the contradiction between the notions of gender equality and the experiences women face in East Asia countries. Using EASS data, we analyze the effective difference over the division of household labor according to women's age and length of school time, attitude for gender division of labor, couple's labor time, and family network. In South Korea and Taiwan, men's actual ratio of household division is higher than Japanese men's. On the other hand, Japanese women's ratio of household division is the highest in spite of their progressive attitude for gender equality. It is due to the difference of women's working time among the countries. In South Korea and Taiwan, women tend to work in full time job, so that they seem to inevitably reduce the time for household labor. The family characteristics have an effect on the women's ratio of household division in Taiwan, and the feature of women's employment does in South Korea. The high percentage of three-generation household contributes to the reduction of housework burden in Taiwan. In South Korea, the higher women's education levels, the higher the women's ratio of household division. Women's weakened bargaining power for household labor is due to the relatively low level of high-educated women's economic participation in South Korea. This paper reveals the effective factors on the gender division of household labor. We propose the necessity of the macro-level analysis as well as the analysis of the personal and conjugal feature.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.629-641
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• 2023

Objective: This study investigated the effects of extruded flaxseed with and without herbs mixture on egg performance, yolk fatty acids (FAs), lipid components, blood biochemistry, serological enzymes, antioxidants, and immune system of Hy-Line W-36 hens for nine weeks. Methods: Two hundred forty laying hens were randomly distributed to eight treatments, resulting in six replicates with five hens. Graded levels of dietary extruded flaxseed (0, 90, 180, and 270 g/kg) with and without herbs mixture (24 g/kg: garlic, ginger, green tea, and turmeric 6 g/kg each) were designed as treatments. Results: The two-way analysis of variance indicated that hens fed herbs mixture had a higher value of egg production, yolk high-density lipoprotein (HDL), superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and white blood cell and lower contents of yolk cholesterol, glucose, and blood low-density lipoprotein than those fed diets without herb mixtures (p<0.05). The Flx27 (270 g/kg flaxseed) (153.5 g/kg n-3 FAs) and Flx27+H (270 g/kg flaxseed plus 24 g/kg herbs mixture) (150.5 g/kg n-3 FAs) groups were the most promising treatments in terms of yolk n-3 FAs content. In-teraction effect (herbs- flaxseed) for blood cholesterol, HDL, malondialdehyde, glutaredoxin, alanine transaminase, (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), haemoglobin and immune parameters was significant (p<0.05). The results showed layers fed herbs mixture (Flx9+H, Flx18+H, and Flx27+H) had a better value of total antibody, immunoglobulin M, immunoglobulin G, ALT, AST, and blood HDL as compared with representative flaxseed levels without herbs. Conclusion: High inclusion levels of extruded flaxseed (270 g/kg) without herbs to enrich eggs with n-3 appears to impair the antioxidant system, immunohematological parameters, and sero-logical enzymes. Interestingly, the herbs mixture supplementation corrected those effects. Therefore, feeding layers with flaxseed-rich diets (270 g/kg) and herbs mixture can be a promising strategy to enrich eggs with n-3 FAs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.1241-1251
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• 2023

Objective: Egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) is an antibiotic alternative to prevent and fight intestinal pathogenic infections. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sodium alginate/chitosan/sodium alginate IgY microcapsules on the growth performance, serum parameters, and intestinal health of broiler chickens. Methods: One-day-old broilers (Ross 308) were divided into five treatments, each with 10 replicates of five chickens. The dietary treatments were maintained for 28 days and consisted of a basal diet (NC), basal diet + 500 mg chlortetracycline/kg diet (CH), basal diet + 50 mg non-microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (NM), basal diet + 600 mg low levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (LM), and basal diet + 700 mg high levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (HM). Results: Throughout the 28-day trial period, the NM, LM, HM, and CH groups increased average daily gain compared with the NC group (p<0.05), and the HM group reduced feed conversion ratio compared with the CH group (p<0.05). The LM and HM groups increased relative organ weights of thymus and spleen compared with the CH and NM groups (p<0.05). The HM group improved the duodenal, jejunal and ileum villi height (VH) and villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH:CD) compared with the CH and NM groups (p<0.05). Compared with the CH group, the HM group increased serum immunoglobulin (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity, and glutathione peroxidase levels (p<0.05), and decreased serum malondialdehyde levels (p<0.05). Compared with the NC group, the NM, LM, HM, and CH groups reduced colonic Escherichia coli and Salmonella levels (p<0.05). and the HM group promoted the levels of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria compared with the CH group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Microencapsulation could be considered as a way to improve the efficiency of IgY. The 700 mg high levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet could potentially be used as an alternative to antibiotics to improve the immune performance and intestinal health, leading to better performance of broiler chickens.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.1263-1273
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of crude protein (CP) levels on the physiological response, reproductive performance, blood profiles, milk composition and odor emission in gestating sows. Methods: Seventy-two multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) of average body weight (BW), backfat thickness, and parity were assigned to one of six treatments with 10 or 11 sows per treatment in a completely randomized design. Experimental diets with different CP levels were as follows: i) CP11, corn-soybean-based diet containing 11% CP; ii) CP12, corn-soybean-based diet containing 12% CP; iii) CP13, corn-soybean-based diet containing 13% CP; iv) CP14, corn-soybean-based diet containing 14% CP; v) CP15, corn-soybean-based diet containing 15% CP; and vi) CP16: corn-soybean-based diet containing 16% CP. Results: There was no significant difference in the performance of sow or piglet growth when sows were fed different dietary protein levels. Milk fat (linear, p = 0.05) and total solids (linear, p = 0.04) decreased as dietary CP levels increased. Increasing dietary CP levels in the gestation diet caused a significant increase in creatinine at days 35 and 110 of gestation (linear, p = 0.01; linear, p = 0.01). The total protein in sows also increased as dietary CP levels increased during the gestation period and 24 hours postpartum (linear, p = 0.01; linear, p = 0.01). During the whole experimental period, an increase in urea in sows was observed when sows were fed increasing levels of dietary CP (linear, p = 0.01), and increasing blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentrations were observed as well. In the blood parameters of piglets, there were linear improvements in creatinine (linear, p = 0.01), total protein (linear, p = 0.01), urea (linear, p = 0.01), and BUN (linear, p = 0.01) with increasing levels of dietary CP as measured 24 hours postpartum. At two measurement points (days 35 and 110) of gestation, the odor gas concentration, including amine, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide, increased linearly when sows fed diets with increasing levels of dietary CP (linear, p = 0.01). Moreover, as dietary CP levels increased to 16%, the odor gas concentration was increased with a quadratic response (quadratic, p = 0.01). Conclusion: Reducing dietary CP levels from 16% to 11% in a gestating diet did not exert detrimental effects on sow body condition or piglet performance. Moreover, a low protein diet (11% CP) may improve dietary protein utilization and metabolism to reduce odor gas emissions in manure and urine in gestating sows.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.962-972
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• 2023

Objective: This study determined the effects of dietary treatments and castration on meat quality, fatty acids (FAs) profiles, and volatile compounds in Korean native black goats (KNBG, Capra hircus coreanae), including the relationship between the population of rumen microbiomes and meat FA profiles. Methods: Twenty-four KNBG (48.6±1.4 kg) were randomly allocated to one of four treatments arranged into a 2×2 factorial structure. The factors were dietary forage to concentrate ratio (high forage [HF, 80:20] and low forage [LF, 20:80]), and a castration treatment (castration [CA] vs non-castration [NCA]). Results: Among meat quality traits, the CA group exhibited a higher percentage of crude fat and water holding capacity (p<0.05). The profiles of the saturated fatty acid (SFA) in meat sample derived from CA KNBG showed a significantly lower percentage compared to NCA individuals, due to the lower proportion of C14:0 and C18:0. Feeding a high-forage diet to KNBG increased the formation of C18:1n7, C18:3n3, C20:1n9, C22:4n6 in meat, and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) profiles (p<0.05). Consequently, the n6:n3 ratio declined (p<0.05). There was an interaction between dietary treatment and castration for formation of C20:5n3 (p<0.05), while C18:1n9, C22:6n3, monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and the MUFA:SFA ratio were influenced by both diet and castration (p<0.05). Nine volatile compounds were identified and were strongly influenced by both dietary treatments, castration (p<0.05), and their interaction. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) revealed distinctly different odor patterns in the NCA goats fed LF diets. Spearman correlation analysis showed a high correlation between rumen bacteria and meat PUFAs. Conclusion: These results suggest the essential effects of the rumen microbial population for the synthesis of meat FAs and volatile compounds in KNBG meat, where dietary intake and castration also contribute substantially.