• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1923-1929
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the correlation between blood components and carcass traits, and to find the biomarkers related to meat quality and quantity in Hanwoo steers. Methods: One hundred twenty-six Hanwoo steers (8 to 9 months of age, body weight of $185.6{\pm}24.38kg$) were used to find the correlation between blood compositions and carcass traits. The steers were fed concentrate and rice straw (30 steers) or total mixed rations (96 steers) during the whole experimental period. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein at the growing (8 to 12 months), fattening (13 to 23 months) and finishing phases (24 to 30 months). Steers were slaughtered at 30 to 31 months of age (body weight of $701.6{\pm}60.45kg$) and the carcass traits were evaluated. Blood metabolites and hormones were analyzed and the correlation coefficients and regression equations with carcass traits were determined. Results: Average concentrations of retinol, leptin and insulin were 1.10 IU, 30.34 ng, and 35.35 ng per mL of blood plasma, respectively. Retinol has negative correlations (p<0.01) with insulin and leptin. Blood insulin and total protein decreased with the age of steers, but retinol, aspartic acid transaminase (AST), glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride increased. In the finishing phase, significant (p<0.01) negative correlations occurred between blood retinol content and marbling score, and between blood AST content and longissimus muscle area of 13th rib, and the following regression equations were obtained: Marbling score $(1-9)=-0.009{\times}retinol(IU/100mL)+9.125$ ($R^2=0.643$), Longissimus muscle area $(cm^2)=-0.250{\times}AST(U/L)+112.498$ ($R^2=0.450$). Conclusion: It is possible to make highly marbled beef by controlling the blood retinol content during the fattening and finishing phases of Hanwoo steers. Accordingly, blood retinol and AST could be biomarkers for determining beef quality and quantity, respectively, prior to slaughter.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1439-1447
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• 2019

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary incorporation of tanninrich woody species on meat oxidative stability, carcass traits and meat quality in goats. Methods: Two tannin-rich species were tested using a three-treatments feeding trial, where treatments consisted of: Larrea divaricata and Acacia aroma both at 12.5% in dry matter basis of the diet and a control diet (alfalfa hay). All feeding diets were iso-protein and iso-energy. Carcass conformation, carcass compactness, carcass fatness and subcutaneous fat deposition were evaluated. Intake, liveweigh, Longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscles of goats were analyzed in order to evaluate quality parameters such as pH value, instrumental color evaluation, water holding capacity, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, meat oxidative stability and fatty acid profiles in meat. Results: Feed intake, liveweight gain, carcass, and meat traits did not differ among treatments. Changes in meat lipid profile among treatments were observed for oleic and elaidic acid contents. Meat total phenolic content and antioxidant activity did not differ among treatments; although, meat oxidative status after storage at room temperature, as well as under refrigerated and frozen conditions were different between control and both supplemented groups. Conclusion: The inclusion of Acacia aroma and Larrea divaricata leaves in goat diet enhanced meat oxidative stability. Modulation of the ruminal biohydrogenation of fatty acids produced by condensed tannins of these plant species need to be further investigated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.366-374
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of feeding ethanol on growth performances, carcass characteristics, and lipid metabolism of finishing Korean cattle (Hanwoo) steers. Methods: Thirty (30) Hanwoo steers (average 25.1 months of age, body weight 660.1 kg) were assigned to three treatments: control (0% ethanol), E-3 (1.44% ethanol for 3 months), or E-5 (0.72% ethanol for 2 months followed by 1.44% ethanol for 3 months). The animals were allotted by treatment group into six pens and fed concentrate and perennial ryegrass. Ethanol (30%, v/v) was supplemented into drinking water twice a day to meet final concentrations based on average water consumption of finishing Hanwoo steers. Results: There were no statistical differences among the groups in final body weight, average daily gain, or carcass yield grade indices such as cold carcass weight, fat thickness, and loin area. The marbling score tended (p = 0.228) to increase with the highest score (6.7) in the E-5 group followed by 6.3 and 6.0 in E-3 and control groups, respectively. The appearance frequencies of quality grades of $1^{{+}{+}}$ (the best), $1^{+}$, 1, and 2, were; 30%, 50%, 0%, and 20% for control, 10%, 80%, 10%, and 0% for E-3, and 10%, 80%, 0%, and 10% for E-5 groups, respectively, indicating improvements of quality grades by feeding ethanol. Concentrations of serum glucose tended to decrease whereas those of insulin and non-esterified fatty acid to increase by feeding ethanol (E-3 and E-5; p>0.05). Conclusion: Feeding ethanol directly into drinking water of finishing Hanwoo steers stimulated lipogenesis in intramuscular adipose tissue (marbling) and thereby improved carcass quality grade. The serum metabolites results supported the hypothesis of lipolysis of existing adipose tissue, such as abdominal fats, and lipogenesis in intramuscular adipocytes.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1075-1082
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• 2023

Objective: Animal feed companies and researchers are currently embarking on quests for feed additives that could combat the pathogens while promoting growth as well as maintaining quality products. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of onion extracts on growth performance, carcass quality, and bone morphometrics of broiler chickens. Methods: A total number of 200 one-day-old unsexed Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned to 5 treatment groups, replicated 4 times. Each replicate (pens) held 10 chickens in a completely randomized design. The experimental diets were then randomly allotted to the pens which act as experimental units. The isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets were formulated by including onion extracts at 0, 5, 10, 15, or 25 g/kg in a complete broiler diet. Feed intake, and body weight, were recorded then used to calculate feed conversion ratio. At the end of the experiment (42 days), four chickens from each pen were randomly selected for slaughter for carcass, bone morphology and sensory evaluation. Results: Results showed that onion extract supplementation did not affect (p>0.05) growth performances and meat sensory evaluation. However, there was a significantly increased (p<0.05) meat shear force in groups receiving onion extracts dietary treatments. Furthermore, onion extracts improved (p<0.05) bone morphology of broiler chickens in terms of weight, diameter, calcium, and phosphorous contents. Conclusion: In conclusion, onion extracts can be safely included in a commercial broiler diet as a growth promoter without causing adverse effects on growth performance traits and carcass quality in chickens. Onion extract supplementation improved tibia bone growth and strength in broiler chickens.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.266-272
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to investigate the current state of carcass weight distribution and external quality of domestic duck products. A total of 419,164 duck heads were used for the carcass weight distribution analysis. From the results, the average, mode, median, and quartile were 2,164.4, 2,000, 2,200, and 300 g, respectively. Furthermore, carcass yield averaged 70.1% from the live weights of domestic duck products. Duck carcasses had 28.4% external defects and 4.8% external damage. Moreover, the appearance ratio of discoloration was 34.1% and, in particular, the leg region was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of the other regions. The feather removal defect ratio averaged 44% from the duck carcass surface. The ratio of disjointed and broken bones averaged 9.91% and mostly appeared in wing and leg parts. Fat content was significantly (p<0.05) higher in carcasses with weights >2.3 kg than that of other carcass weight levels, suggesting that market live weight of domestic duck products must be greater than a minimum of 3 kg.

• 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.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.603-608
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to investigate factors related to carcass traits of Hanwoo. In the statistical model developed in this study, slaughterhouse, carcass year, carcass month and sex effects were used as fixed effects and carcass traits (carcass weight, marbling score, loineye muscle area, backfat thickness and meat yield index) as covariations. The grading service data for 285,515 Hanwoo, which were evaluated by Animal Products Grading Service from 2005 to 2007, were used in this study. The partial R-square values of the fixed effects and the marbling score (MS), loineye muscle area, back-fat thickness, meat yield index and carcass weight (CW) on auction prices (AP) of the carcass and carcass price (CP) of the animals were estimated. The most important estimated trait in AP was MS. However, CW is the most important estimated trait on the CP and the MS also has secondly significant effect on the CP. In conclusion, MS as well as CW should maximize the farmer profits and establish a breeding scheme for Hanwoo.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.1064-1075
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• 2021

Recently, a high level of dietary crude protein (CP) has become of interest as a possible practice to improve the carcass quality of beef cattle, and its level has been increasing in the field. However, there is little scientific evidence that supports this. This study was conducted to test whether a high dietary CP level would improve growth performance, body metabolism, and carcass traits in Hanwoo beef cattle. A total of 32 Hanwoo finishing beef cattle (18 multiparous cows, six heifers, and eight steers) participated in a 12-weeks feeding trial. Two kinds of total mixed rations were prepared to contain two different CP; 156 g/kg for the control (CON) and 173 g/kg of CP for the treatment (HCP), while maintaining a similar level of metabolizable energy. The experiment was ended when more than half of the steers reached the target body weight (730 kg). Blood was collected at the end of the experiment. After harvesting, the carcass trait was evaluated at the slaughterhouse according to Korean standards. The carcass yield score and grade were also calculated based on revised criteria. Overall, dry matter intake, average daily gain, blood metabolites concentration, and the carcass traits, except for backfat thickness and the yield score, did not differ between the treatments. The HCP had lower backfat thickness than those of CON. There was no difference in the carcass yield grade, but the yield score was higher in the HCP treatment. According to the newly revised carcass grading criteria, both yield score and grade were higher in HCP than in CON. Increasing CP supply decreased the carcass's backfat thickness without altering growth performance and body metabolism, resulting in improved yield score and grade. Therefore, feeding a high CP diet may be beneficial in the farm income, although it may also increase feed cost and nitrogen excretion to the environment.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.667-671
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• 2005

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the muscle mass and fiber number on post-mortem metabolic rates and pork quality. Carcass traits, muscle fiber characteristics, and type of fiber composition were evaluated using a sample of 200 cross-bred pigs. The muscle mass was divided into two groups according to carcass weight and loin-eye area measurements (heavy or light). In addition, the muscle histological characteristics were divided into two groups according to the muscle fiber density and total number of muscle fibers (high or low). All the carcass traits were significantly different in the muscle mass groups. Increasing weight significantly affected the cross-sectional area (CSA) of all fibers. The low group, which had a low muscle fiber number indicating a larger CSA of fibers, and especially the heavy-low group had the highest CSA levels of fibers. The fiber number percentage and the area percentage were significantly different in the groups categorized by fiber number. The heavy-high group indicated a normal rate of pH decline and the R-value. In addition, pigs with a heavy muscle mass and high muscle fiber number indicated normal drip loss, lightness, and protein denaturation. The present results suggest that increasing the total muscle fiber number has a beneficial effect on increasing the muscle mass without deteriorating the meat quality.

• 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.