• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.1133-1137
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• 2001

An experiment was conducted to study the performance and carcass characteristics of Hanwoo steers fed whole crop corn silage ensiled with poultry manure (PM) for 18 months. The experiment was designed as a randomized block design with three phases. Steers were allotted in one of three dietary treatments, which were ammonia-treated rice straw (AS), whole crop corn silage (CS) and whole crop corn+30% PM silage (based on DM; MS). All diets were supplemented with concentrate. Total body weight gain and average daily gain (ADG) in MS group were increased (p<0.05) by 6% over AS group. The MS treatment enhanced (p<0.05) total and daily intakes of forage compared with the AS and CS treatments while there was compensatory effect on concentrate intake by AS group. Carcass characteristics were improved by feeding MS. MS increased (p<0.05) carcass weight and marbling score (7.5 and 22.5% of AS, respectively), and reduced (p<0.05) backfat thickness (13.2 of AS and 16.6% CS). Carcass grade and meat quality grade were also improved by MS compared with AS and CS. Under the conditions of this study, MS was an efficacious replacement for corn silage for steers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1999

The effect of fat supplementation of high calcium (Ca) diets on the performance, intestinal pH, body composition and size and weight of organs in growing chickens were investigated in two experiments. Growing chickens tolerated a high dietary level of Ca (22.5 vs 12.1 g/kg) in the presence of 6.3 g/kg of available phosphorus without any significant effect on performance. Intestinal pH was significantly increased by the addition of excess Ca and fat which probably created the right pH for the formation of insoluble Ca soaps. Excess dietary Ca increased carcass linoleic acid concentration at the expense of palmitic and stearic acid contents, whilst the addition of sunflower oil (80 g/kg diet) to the diet increased carcass linoleic acid concentration at the expense of palmitic acid content of the carcass. Intestinal and visceral organ size and weight were not influenced by excess Ca or fat. However, there was a non significant increase in the intestinal dry weight per unit of length caused by excess dietary Ca. It was concluded that excess dietary Ca of 22.5 g/kg did not significantly influence the performance of meat chickens. However, excess Ca increased intestinal pH and altered carcass fatty acid composition. Fat supplementation did not alter intestinal pH with high Ca diets. Excess dietary fat altered carcass fatty acid composition and reduced protein content. Intestinal and visceral organ size and weights were not influenced by excess dietary levels of Ca of fat.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.185-195
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• 2005

Two hundred [(Duroc${\times}$Yorkshire)${\times}$Landrace] pigs were used in a 117-d growth assay (including four growth stages) to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus reuteri on performance of swine, fecal and rectumal microflora and carcass grade. Pig diet was divided tow types, commercial diet (Control group) and supplemention of 0.1% Lactobacillus reuteri (Treatmental group). There was tend to increased in average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (Feed/gain) in treatmental group than control group during the whole experimental period. The number of Lactobacilius spp. into rectum and feaces and carcass rate tended to increase in treatmental group than control group. Ammonia emission from excreta were decrease by supplemention of 0.1% Lactobacillus reuteri in feed (P<0.05). These results indicated that the dietary Lactobacillus reuteri were effective in performance, increasing of Lactobacilius spp. into rectum and feaces, decreasing ammonia emission from excreta, and it had also effective the carcass rate in swine.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.96-102
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• 2011

In this study, we examined the effects of formic acid administration to the drinking water on performance, intestinal microflora and carcass contamination in male broilers. A total of 312 day-old male broiler chicks were allocated to two groups with three replicates. The first group (control) received normal drinking water (pH 7.4) during the experiment. The second group consumed acidified drinking water (pH 4.5) after 5 d of age. At 43 d of age, twelve birds were randomly selected from the control group to determine the effect of acidified drinking water on carcass contamination. These birds were only given normal or acidified (pH 3) drinking water for 8 h prior to slaughter. The reduction of water pH from 7.4 to 4.5 significantly decreased body weights of male broilers at 21 and 42 d of age. However, no differences were observed between male broilers given normal and acidified drinking water in terms of feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality. The pH value of the gizzard contents was not significantly affected by acid water treatment. There were no significant differences in the intestinal population of E. coli, total organism and Salmonella between the groups. The total organism and E. coli counts of the carcass slightly decreased in the acidified group. No Salmonella was identified in carcass samples of any of the treatment groups. The results showed that drinking water acidification did not provide beneficial effects on performance, intestinal microflora and carcass contamination in male broilers.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1911-1920
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• 2022

Objective: This study was performed to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME_n) content of tannin-free red/bronze, white/tan and U.S. No. 2 varieties of grain sorghum for feeding Japanese quail and validate their nutrient profile by evaluating effects on performance and carcass traits with full-substitution of corn. Methods: Experiment 1 determined the AME_n content of red/bronze, white/tan, and U.S. No. 2 grain sorghum varieties fed to mixed-sex Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) (n = 314) at 3 and 6-weeks of age. Analyses were based on a 2×4 factorial treatment design with age and grain types defining the treatments, and a randomized complete block experiment design with cage and trials defining the block. AME_n values were validated by evaluating the performance and carcass traits of Japanese quail (n = 644) from 1 to 40 days of age in Experiment 2 with birds were fed 1 of 4 complete diets. Statistical analyses were conducted on performance data and select individual carcass trait measurements. Results: Determined AME_n values at 3-weeks of age were 3,524±122.03 (red/bronze), 3,252±122.03 (white/tan), and 3,039±123.44 (U.S. No. 2) kcal/kg. At 6-weeks of age, determined AME_n were 3,373±297.35 (red/bronze), 3,279±297.35 (white/tan), and 2,966±298.64 (U.S. No. 2) kcal/kg. Carcass traits showed live body weight (p = 0.0409) and hot carcass weight (p = 0.0234) were greatest in U.S. No. 2; however, carcass yield (p<0.0001) was lowest. No significant differences were observed among treatments for feed intake, feed conversion ratio, breast weight and breast yield (p>0.05). Conclusion: These studies demonstrated that tannin-free grain sorghum varieties may be a potential alternative to corn in quail diets while maintaining growth performance and carcass parameters.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1180-1193
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• 2023

Most carcass and meat quality traits are moderate to highly heritable, indicating that they can be improved through selection. Genetic evaluation for these types of traits is performed using performance data obtained from commercial and progeny testing evaluation. The performance data from commercial farms are available in large volume, however, some drawbacks have been observed. The drawback of the commercial data is mainly due to sorting of animals based on live weight prior to slaughter, and this could lead to bias in the genetic evaluation of later measured traits such as carcass traits. The current study has two components to address the drawback of the commercial data. The first component of the study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for carcass and meat quality traits in Korean Hanwoo cattle using a large sample size of industry-based carcass performance records (n = 469,002). The second component of the study aimed to describe the impact of sorting animals into different contemporary groups based on an early measured trait and then examine the effect on the genetic evaluation of subsequently measured traits. To demonstrate our objectives, we used real performance data to estimate genetic parameters and simulated data was used to assess the bias in genetic evaluation. The results of our first study showed that commercial data obtained from slaughterhouses is a potential source of carcass performance data and useful for genetic evaluation of carcass traits to improve beef cattle performance. However, we observed some harvesting effect which leads to bias in genetic evaluation of carcass traits. This is mainly due to the selection of animal based on their body weight before arrival to slaughterhouse. Overall, the non-random allocation of animals into a contemporary group leads to a biased estimated breeding value in genetic evaluation, the severity of which increases when the evaluation traits are highly correlated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1492-1497
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• 2005

The goal of the trial was to evaluate the effects of ractopamine (20 ppm in the ration) given pregnant sows during three different pregnancy stages (T1: 25 to 50 d; T2: 50 to 80 d; T3: 25 to 80 d of gestation, and T4: control-no ractopamine) on fetal muscle development (through counts of the number of fibers of the semitendinosus muscle), on the growth and carcass characteristics of the progeny. Forty eight weaned piglets (12 per treatment) were assessed for number of muscle fibers, while performance and carcass characteristics were evaluated on a separate 48 animals (12 per treatment) grown to 100 kg. Animals produced by sows treated from 25 to 50 d of pregnancy (T1) resulted in non-significant increase of 6.85% in the number of muscle fibers in the semitendinosus muscle when compared to animals from the control group. Performance results were significantly different (p<0.05), and animals produced by sows from the T1 group gained more weight during the growth I stage (25 to 50 kg) and during the total period (6 to 100 kg) (991 vs. 903 grams, and 844 vs. 772 grams, respectively) when compared to controls. For carcass characteristics, results showed that animals produced by the T1 group of sows were heavier at slaughter (p<0.05) when compared to the controls (T4) (100.17 vs. 93.09 kg). There was a positive correlation between number of muscle fibers and bodyweights, carcass weights, Longissimus dorsi muscle depth and dressing out (0.80, 0.86, 0.67, and 0.50, respectively). Sows treated with ractopamine between 25 to 50 d of pregnancy produced piglets that performed better and had superior carcass characteristics than those produced by untreated sows. The ractopamine used for pregnancy sows (25 to 50 d) can be indicated as a device to increase the progeny performance.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.879-890
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the use of Megasphaera elsdenii (M. elsdenii) as a probiotic on rumen fermentation, production performance, carcass traits and health of ruminants by integrating data from various related studies using meta-analysis. Methods: A total of 32 studies (consisted of 136 data points) were obtained and integrated into a database. The parameters integrated were fermentation products, rumen microbes, production performance, carcass quality, animal health, blood and urine metabolites. Statistical analysis of the compiled database used a mixed model methodology. Different studies were considered random effects, while M. elsdenii supplementation doses were considered fixed effects. p-values and the Akaike information criterion were employed as model statistics. The model was deemed significant at p<0.05 or had a tendency to be significant when p-value between 0.05<p<0.10. Results: Supplementation with M. elsdenii increased (p<0.05) some proportion of fermented rumen products such as propionate, butyrate, isobutyrate, and valerate, and significantly reduced (p<0.05) lactic acid concentration, acetate proportion, total bacterial population and methane emission. Furthermore, the probiotic supplementation enhanced (p<0.05) livestock production performance, especially in the average daily gain and body condition score. Regarding the carcass quality, hot carcass weight and carcass gain were elevated (p< 0.05) due to the M. elsdenii supplementation. Animal health also showed improvement as indicated by the lower (p<0.05) diarrhoea and bloat incidences as well as the liver abscess. However, M. elsdenii supplementation had negligible effects on blood and urine metabolites of ruminants. Conclusion: Supplementation of M. elsdenii is capable of decreasing ruminal lactic acid concentration, enhancing rumen health, elevating some favourable rumen fermentation products, and in turn, increasing production performance of ruminants.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1213-1224
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• 2024

Objective: Enterotypes (ETs) are the clustering of gut microbial community structures, which could serve as indicators of growth performance and carcass traits. However, ETs have been sparsely investigated in waterfowl. The objective of this study was to identify the ileal ETs and explore the correlation of the ETs with growth performance and carcass traits in Muscovy ducks. Methods: A total of 200 Muscovy ducks were randomly selected from a population of 5,000 ducks at 70-day old, weighed and slaughtered. The growth performance and carcass traits, including body weight, dressed weight and evidenced weight, dressed percentage, percentage of apparent yield, breast muscle weight, leg muscle weight, percentage of leg muscle and percentage of breast muscle, were determined. The contents of ileum were collected for the isolation of DNA and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The ETs were identified based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing data and the correlation of the ETs with growth performance and carcass traits was performed by Spearman correlation analysis. Results: Three ETs (ET1, ET2, and ET3) were observed in the ileal microbiota of Muscovy ducks with significant differences in number of features and α-diversity among these ETs (p<0.05). Streptococcus, Candida Arthritis, and Bacteroidetes were the presentative genus in ET1 to ET3, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that Lactococcus and Bradyrhizobium were significantly correlated with percentage of eviscerated yield and leg muscle weight (p<0.05) while ETs were found to have a close association with percentage of eviscerated yield, leg muscle weight, and percentage of leg muscle in Muscovy ducks. However, the growth performance of ducks with different ETs did not show significant difference (p>0.05). Lactococcus were found to be significantly correlated with leg muscle weight, dressed weight, and percentage of eviscerated yield. Conclusion: Our findings revealed a substantial variation in carcass traits associated with ETs in Muscovy ducks. It is implied that ETs might have the potential to serve as a valuable biomarker for assessing duck carcass traits. It would provide novel insights into the interaction of gut microbiota with growth performance and carcass traits of ducks.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.455-462
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• 1995

Arbor Acres broiler chickens (N=288) with an average initial weight of 59.4 g were fed diets varying in protein and lysine (80, 100, 120% of NRC; 100, 120% of NRC, 1984) in order to investigate the effects of supplemental chromium picolinate on growth performance, nutrient utilizability, carcass composition, serum traits and in vitro protein synthesis. Six replicates of eight chicks were grouped into one treatment Six chicks were sacrificed from each treatment for carcass analysis, and six additional chicks were chosen and dissected for in vitro culture of liver tissue. Body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion, mortality, carcass composition and serum glucose, HDL/cholesterol ratio, serum triglyceride and serum nonesterified fatty acid appeared to be affected by either the level of dietary crude protein or lysine when supplemented with 200 ppb chromium picolinate (p < 0.05). Retained and secreted proteins in liver acinar cell cultured in vitro were not affected by dietary lysine level but affected by dietary protein level when added with 200 ppb chromium picolinate.