• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.749-760
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• 2022

α-Galactosidase is a debranching enzyme widely used in the food, feed, paper, and pharmaceuticals industries and plays an important role in hemicellulose degradation. Here, T26, an aerobic bacterial strain with thermostable α-galactosidase activity, was isolated from laboratory-preserved lignocellulolytic microbial consortium TMC7, and identified as Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius. The α-galactosidase, called T26GAL and derived from the T26 culture supernatant, exhibited a maximum enzyme activity of 0.4976 IU/ml when cultured at 60℃ and 180 rpm for 2 days. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the α-galactosidase T26GAL belongs to the GH36 family. Subsequently, the pET-26 vector was used for the heterologous expression of the T26 α-galactosidase gene in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The optimum pH for α-galactosidase T26GAL was determined to be 8.0, while the optimum temperature was 60℃. In addition, T26GAL demonstrated a remarkable thermostability with more than 93% enzyme activity, even at a high temperature of 90℃. Furthermore, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ promoted the activity of T26GAL while Zn²⁺ and Cu²⁺ inhibited it. The substrate specificity studies revealed that T26GAL efficiently degraded raffinose, stachyose, and guar gum, but not locust bean gum. This study thus facilitated the discovery of an effective heat-resistant α-galactosidase with potent industrial application. Meanwhile, as part of our research on lignocellulose degradation by a microbial consortium, the present work provides an important basis for encouraging further investigation into this enzyme complex.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.247-261
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• 2022

Ketosis is associated with high milk yield during lactating or insufficient feed intake in lactating dairy cows. However, few studies have been conducted on the metabolomics of ketosis in Korean lactating dairy cows. The present study aimed to investigate the serum and urine metabolites profiling of lactating dairy cows through proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy and comparing those between healthy (CON) and subclinical ketosis (SCK) groups. Six lactating dairy cows were categorized into CON and SCK groups. All experimental Holstein cows were fed total mixed ration. Serum and urine samples were collected from the jugular vein of the neck and by hand sweeping the perineum, respectively. The metabolites in the serum and urine were determined using ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. Identification and quantification of metabolites was performed by Chenomx NMR Suite 8.4 software. Metabolites statistical analysis was performed by Metaboanalyst version 5.0 program. In the serum, the acetoacetate level was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the SCK group than in the CON group, and whereas acetate, galactose and pyruvate levels tended to be higher. CON group had significantly (p < 0.05) higher levels of 5-aminolevulinate and betaine. Indole-3-acetate, theophylline, p-cresol, 3-hydroxymandelate, gentisate, N-acetylglucosamine, N-nitrosodimethylamine, xanthine and pyridoxine levels were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the urine of the SCK group than that in the CON group, which had higher levels of homogentisate, ribose, gluconate, ethylene glycol, maltose, 3-methyl-2-oxovalerate and glycocholate. Some significantly (p < 0.05) different metabolites in the serum and urine were associated with ketosis diseases, inflammation, energy balance and body weight. This study will be contributed useful a future ketosis metabolomics studies in Korea.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1556-1565
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• 2022

Objective: Tan lambs (n = 36, 3 mo old, 19.1±0.53 kg) were used to assess effects of dietary guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) and rumen-protected methionine (RPM) on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and serum parameters. Methods: Lambs were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, with 6 pens per group and 2 lambs per pen. Dietary treatments were: basal diet alone (I); basal diet supplemented with 0.08% GAA+0.06% RPM (II); and basal diet supplemented with 0.08% GAA+0.08% RPM (III). Diets were provided three times a day for 90 d. Intake per pen was recorded daily and individual lamb body weight (BW) was measured monthly. Carcass traits were measured after slaughter and meat quality at the end of the experiment, blood samples were taken on a subgroup of lambs for analysis of indicators mostly related to protein metabolism. Results: Final BW and average daily gain for the first and second month, and for the entire experiment were greater in Treatment II compared to Treatment I (p<0.05), whereas feed to gain ratio was lower (p<0.05). Treatment II had the optimal dressing percentage and net meat weight proportion, as well as crude protein and intramuscular fat concentrations in muscles. Treatment II improved meat quality, as indicated by the greater water holding capacity, pH after 45 min and 48 h, and lower shear force and cooking loss. Dietary supplementation of GAA and RPM also increased the meat color a^* and b^* values at 24 h. Finally, Treatment II increased total protein, and serum concentrations of albumin and creatinine, but decreased serum urea nitrogen concentrations, indicating improved protein efficiency. Conclusion: In this study, 0.08% GAA+0.06% RPM supplementation improved growth performance and meat quality of Tan lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.1249-1254
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• 2000

A study was conducted to evaluate the replacement value of Leucaena leucocephala and Gliricidia sepium as nitrogen sources in commercial type supplements for dairy goats. Six crossbred $(Toggenburg{\times}Saanen)$ goats at late stage of lactation were allocated to three dietary treatments in a double $3{\times}3$ Latin square design. The animals were offered rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay ad libitum and supplemented with either Leucaena-based concentrate (LBC), Gliricidia-based concentrate (GBC) or commercial based concentrate (CC). Voluntary food intake, milk yield and composition and changes in live weight were measured. The total dry matter (DM) intake was higher (p<0.05) in goats fed GBC than CC (1385 vs 1331 g/d). The DM intake for LBC (1343 g/d) was similar to CC (1331 g/d). The DM intake of hay was also higher (p<0.05) in goats fed GBC (834 g/d) than those receiving LBC or CC (789, 782 g/d, respectively). Animals supplemented with GBC recorded positive (11 g/d) weight gain while the other groups lost weight (13, 19 g/d) for LBC and CC respectively, although these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The composition of milk were: butterfat 58, 49 and 55 g/kg; crude protein 37.0, 35.4 and 36.1 g/kg; lactose 33, 29 and 30 g/kg; Ash 8.5, 8.5 and 7.9 g/kg and total solids 136.5, 121.9 and 129.0 g/kg, for goats fed LBC, GBC and CC respectively. There were no differences in the composition of milk due to these dietary treatments. At the end of performance trial, a digestibility trial was conducted using 6 female goats allocated to the three treatments (LBC, GBC and CC) in an incomplete randomized block design and each goat received a different supplement in each of two successive periods. There were no differences in nutrient digestibility except for DM, which was higher (p<0.05) in CC compared to the other treatments (615, 622, 720 g/kg for LBC, GBC and CC, respectively). Economic analysis showed that CC diet was more expensive (0.20 US$/kg) and had a lower margin over supplementation (0.11 US$) compared to LBC and GBC (0.13 vs 0.12 US$/kg and 01.5 vs 0.12 US$, respectively). It is concluded that the Leucaena and Gliricidia could contribute as nitrogen sources in compounded diet supplements without any detrimental effects on production in dairy goats.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1620-1620
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• 2001

Forages, both grazed and conserved, provide the basis of ruminant production systems throughout the world. More than 90 per cent of the feed energy consumed by herbivorous animals world - wide were provided by forages. With such world - wide dependence on forages, the economic and nutritional necessity of been able to characterize them in a meaningful way is vital. The characterization of forages for productive animals is becoming important for several reasons. Relative to conventional laboratory procedures, Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) offers advantages of simplicity, speed, reduced chemical waste, and more cost-effective prediction of product functionality. NIR spectroscopy represents a radical departure from conventional analytical methods, in that entire sample of forage is characterized in terms of its absorption properties in the near infrared region, rather than separate subsamples being treated with various chemicals to isolate specific components. This forces the analyst to abandon his/her traditional narrow focus on the sample (one analyte at a time) and to take a broader view of the relationship between components within the sample and between the sample and the population from which it comes. forage is usually analysed by NIRS in dry and ground presentation. Initial success of NIRS analysis of coarse forages suggest a need to better understand the potential for analysis of minimally processed samples. Preparation costs and possible compositional alterations could be reduced by samples presented to the instrument in undried and unground conditions. NIRS has gained widespread acceptance for the analysis of forage quality constituents on dry material, however little attention has been given to the use of NIRS for chemical determinations on undried and unground forages. Relatively few works reported the use of NIRS to determine quality parameters on undried materials, most of them on both grass and corn silage. Only two works have been found on the determination of quality parameters on fresh forages. The objectives of this paper were (1) to evaluate the use of NIRS for determination of nitrogen and moisture on undried and unground forage samples and (2) to explore two mathematical treatments and two NIR regions to predict chemical parameters on fresh forage. Four hundred forage samples (n: 400) were analysed in a NIRS 6500 instrument (NIR Systems, PA, USA) in reflectance mode. Two mathematical treatments were applied: 1,4,4,1 and 2,5,5,2. Predictive equations were developed using modified partial least squares (MPLS) with internal cross - validation. Coefficient of determination in calibration (${R^2}_{CAL}$) and standard error in cross-validation (SECV) for moisture were 0.92 (12.4) and 0.92 (12.4) for 1,4,4,1 and 2,5,5,2 respectively, on g $kg^{-1}$ dry weight. For crude protein NIRS calibration statistics yield a (${R^2}_{CAL}$) and (SECV) of 0.85 (19.8) and 0.85 (19.6) for 1,4,4,1 and 2,5,5,2 respectively, on a dry weight. It was concluded that NIRS is a suitable method to predict moisture and nitrogen on fresh forage without samples preparation.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 1996

This study was conducted to establish the rapid determination method for major components of maturing covered barley grains, and to improve the efficiency of selection in barley breeding. Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) is an established, economical and nondestructive technique applied widely to the food and feed industry. 34 barley lines were sampled at 5 day-interval from 25 to 35 days after heading. A standard regression analysis for the data obtained by analytical laboratory methods and NIRS method was carried out to get a useful calibration equation. The simple significant correlation between these two methods at 25 days after heading was recognized in starch and $\beta$-glucan contents. At 30 days after heading the data obtained by two methods showed significant correlation in starch, $\beta$-glucan and protein contents. Analyzed data and that from NIRS method at 35 days after heading was significantly correlated in starch and protein contents. It was concluded that the applicability of NIRS method for the components analysis in maturing barley grains was different depending on maturing stages and components.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.235-252
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• 2022

Forward osmotic pressure-free reverse osmosis (Δ𝜋=0 RO) was invented in 2013. The first patent (US 9,950,297 B2) was registered on April 18, 2018. The "Osmotic Pressure of Concentrated Solutions" in JACS (1908) by G.N. Lewis of MIT was used for the estimation. The Chang's RO system differs from conventional RO (C-RO) in that two-chamber system of osmotic pressure equalizer and a low-pressure RO system while C-RO is based on a single chamber. Chang claimed that all aqueous solutions, including salt water, regardless of its osmotic pressure can be separated into water and salt. The second patent (US 10.953.367B2, March 23, 2021) showed that a low-pressure reverse osmosis is possible for 3.0% input at Δ𝜋 of 10 to 12 bar. Singularity ZERO reverse osmosis from his third patent (Korea patent 10-22322755, US-PCT/KR202003595) for a 3.0% NaCl input, 50% more water recovery, use of 1/3 RO membrane area, and 1/5th of theoretical energy. These numbers come from Chang's laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis. Relative residence time (RRT) of feed and OE chambers makes Δ𝜋 to zero or negative by recycling enriched feed flow. The construction cost by S-ZERO was estimated to be around 50~60% of the current RO system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.449-463
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• 2014

There are many case studies and application cases in abandoned mines for hydraulic filling method filled by slurry or paste form, but research on the pneumatic filling is not applied in Korea. The damage of steel pipe is occurred by wear due to the flow of filling material in the bent area of steel pipe in traditional pneumatic filling method. In this study, the new pneumatic filling method was developed using a newly devised improved nozzle to improve the above problem. The model test for mine filling was performed in the laboratory for the simulated accessible or inaccessible mine cavities, and the filling efficiency by the results obtained from the test was calculated. The filling efficiency was analyzed from the variation of outlet angle, feed rate and grain size of sand in model test of simulated accessible mine cavity. The superiority of improved pneumatic filling method was proved through the analysis of filling efficiency by the results obtained from each model tests of gravitational, traditional, and improved filling method in simulated inaccessible mine cavity.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.235-244
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• 2009

This experiment was conducted to develop a new silage inoculant for barley at forage analysis laboratory, Grassland and Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA from 2000 to 2002. Barley is very important crop in Korea. The great part of them is utilized as forage. Generally, it contains a lot of grains that are feed of animal, especially whole crop silage in ruminant. Efficient lactic acid bacteria were isolated from good barley silage by plating MRS agar containing 0.02% sodium azide, and assessed by growing and acid producing ability in MRS broth. Four lactic acid bacteria were selected, and were found to be Gram positive, rods and catalase negative and were identified to be Lactobacillus plantarum on the basis of the biochemical characteristics and utilization of substrates. Barley was ensiled at dough stage following treatment with four lactic acid bacteria, commercial inoculant, and no additive (control). After 2 months, B2-2 bacteria inoculated silage was lower pH and higher lactic acid content than others treatments. The Flieg's score and grade of B2-2 bacteria treated silage were higher than commercial inoculant. According to this experiment, Lactobacillus plantarum B2-2 (NLRI 201) was recommendable for good silage inoculant of whole crop barley silage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1062-1062
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• 2001

The concept of “precision agriculture” or “site-specific farming” is usually confined to the fields of soil science, crop science and agronomy. However, because plants grow in soil, animals eat plants, and humans eat animal products, it could be argued (perhaps with some poetic licence) that the fields of feed quality, animal nutrition and animal production should also be considered in this context. NIR spectroscopy has proved over the last 20 years that it can provide a firm foundation for quality measurement across all of these fields, and with the continuing developments in instrumentation, computer capacity and software, is now a major cog in the wheel of precision agriculture. There have been a few giant leaps and a lot of small steps in the impact of NIR on the animal world. These have not been confined to the amazing advances in hardware and software, although would not have occurred without them. Rapid testing of forages, grains and mixed feeds by NIR for nutritional value to livestock is now commonplace in commercial laboratories world-wide. This would never have been possible without the pioneering work done by the USDA NIR Forage Research Network in the 1980's, following the landmark paper of Norris et al. in 1976. The advent of calibration transfer between instruments, algorithms which utilize huge databases for calibration and prediction, and the ability to directly scan whole grains and fresh forages can also be considered as major steps, if not leaps. More adventurous NIR applications have emerged in animal nutrition, with emphasis on estimating the functional properties of feeds, such as in vivo digestibility, voluntary intake, protein degradability and in vitro assays to simulate starch digestion. The potential to monitor the diets of grazing animals by using faecal NIR spectra is also now being realized. NIR measurements on animal carcasses and even live animals have also been attempted, with varying degrees of success, The use of discriminant analysis in these fields is proving a useful tool. The latest giant leap is likely to be the advent of relatively low-cost, portable and ultra-fast diode array NIR instruments, which can be used “on-site” and also be fitted to forage or grain harvesters. The fodder and livestock industries are no longer satisfied with what we once thought was revolutionary: a 2-3 day laboratory turnaround for fred quality testing. This means that the instrument needs to be taken to the samples rather than vice versa. Considerable research is underway in this area, but the challenge of calibration transfer and maintenance of instrument networks of this type remains. The animal world is currently facing its biggest challenges ever; animal welfare, alleged effects of animal products on human health, environmental and economic issues are difficult enough, but the current calamities of BSE and foot and mouth disease are “the last straw” NIR will not of course solve all these problems, but is already proving useful in some of these areas and will continue to do so.