• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.219-235
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• 2016

Forest tree diversity inventory and its periodical monitoring are important to understand changes in tree population structure and to provide information useful for biodiversity conservation and reserve management. In a long-term forest dynamics program in Indian tropical dry evergreen forest, this communication deals with tree diversity changes at decadal interval. The initial inventory of tree diversity was carried out in 2003, in four tropical dry evergreen forest sites - (much disturbed sites Shanmuganathapuram - SP and Araiyapatti - AP and moderately disturbed sites - Karisakkadu - KR and Maramadakki - MM) on the Coromandel Coast of peninsular India, by establishing four 1ha permanent plots, one in each site. In 2013, the four plots were re-inventoried for tree diversity (${\geq}10cm\;gbh$) changes which yielded 56 species from 46 genera and 26 families. The studied forest sites are threatened by disturbance due to multiple reasons; cutting of trees inside of the forest, grazing by goats, construction of temple approach road, and some aspects cultural attachment of local people like constructing new, additional strctures of temple by denuding a portion of forest etc.. Tree species richness over a decade increased by four species in site SP, two species in site AP, and one species in site KR, but decreased by one species in site MM. Tree density decreased drastically by 480 (28.92%) and 102 (12.63%) stems $ha^{-1}$ respectively in sites SP and AP, but moderately increased by 82 (12.09%) stems $ha^{-1}$ in site KR and 26 (3.46%) stems $ha^{-1}$ in site MM. Tree basal area declined in site KR from $21.6m^2$ to $20.26m^2ha^{-1}$ and in site SP from 21.1 to $20.38m^2ha^{-1}$, but increased from $19.1m^2$ to $19.43m^2$ and from 15.5 to $18.63m^2ha^{-1}$ in sites AP and MM respectively. Three tree species (Allophylus serratus, Maytenus emarginata and Ehretia pubescens) were lost out of the 57 species recorded in 2003, and two species (Jatropha gossypiifolia and Streblus asper) were new additions in ten years. The long-term forest monitoring data will be valuable to understand forest dynamics and for conservation and management of this and similar tropical forests.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.487-495
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• 2007

The objectives of the present study were to initiate cloning of Korean native goat by somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) and to examine whether unovulated (follicular) oocytes can support the same developmental ability of NT embryos as ovulated (oviductal) oocytes after hCG injection in stimulated cycles of the goat. The in vivo-matured and immature oocytes were collected from the oviducts and follicles of superovulated does, respectively, and the immature oocytes were maturated in vitro. Ear skin fibroblasts derived from a 3-yr-old female Korean native goat were used as the donors of nuclei or karyoplasts. Following fusion, activation and in vitro culture to a 2- to 4-cell stage, 49 in vitro-derived and 105 in vivo-derived embryos were transferred to 6 and 17 recipient does, respectively. One doe and three does of the respective groups were identified as pregnant by ultrasonography on day 30 after embryo transfer. However, only one doe, which had received in vivo-derived embryos, delivered a normal female kid of 1.9 kg on d 149. The cloned kid gained more weight than her age-matched females as much as 87% during the first 4 mo after birth (17.7 vs. $9.4{\pm}0.8$ kg) and reached puberty at 6-mo age a few months earlier than normal female does. The telomere length of the kid, which was similar to that of the donor fibroblast at 2-mo age, decreased 8% between 2- and 7-mo ages. Moreover, at 7-mo age, she had 21% shorter telomere than her age-matched goats. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which a cloned animal born with a normal weight exhibited accelerated growth and development. The unusually rapid growth and development of the cloned goat may have resulted from SCNT-associated epigenetic reprogramming involving telomere shortening.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2007

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of disodium fumarate on the in vitro rumen fermentation profiles of different substrates and microbial communities. In experiment 1, nine diets (high-forage diet (forage:concentrate, e.g. F:C = 7:3, DM basis), medium-forage diet (F:C = 5:5, DM basis), low-forage diet(F:C = 1:9, DM basis), cracked corn, cracked wheat, soluble starch, tall elata (Festuca elata), perennial ryegrass and rice straw) were fermented in vitro by rumen microorganisms from local goats. The results showed that during 24 h incubations, for all substrates, disodium fumarate increased (p<0.05) the gas production, and tended to increase (p<0.10) the acetate, propionate and total VFA concentration and decrease the ratio of acetate to propionate, whereas no treatment effect was observed for the lactate concentration. The apparent DM loss for tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw increased (p<0.05) with the addition of disodium fumarate. With the exception of tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw, disodium fumarate addition increased the final pH (p<0.05) for all substrates. In experiment 2, three substrates (a high-forage diet, a medium-forage diet and a high concentrate diet) were fermented by mixed rumen microbes in vitro. A polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) technique was applied to compare microbial DNA fingerprints between substrates at the end of 24 h incubation. The results showed that when Festuca elata was used as substrate, the control and disodium fumarate treatments had similar DGGE profiles, with their similarities higher than 96%. As the ratio of concentrate increased, however, the similarities in DGGE profiles decreased between the control and disodium fumarate treatment. Overall, these results suggest that disodium fumarate is effective in increasing the pH and gas production for the diets differing in forage: concentrate ratio, grain cereals and soluble starch, and in increasing dry matter loss for the forages (tall elata, perennial ryegrass and rice straw) in vitro, whereas its effect on changes of ruminal microbial community may largely depend on the general nature of the substrate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1665-1671
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• 2013

Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) is one of the important methods for investigating the changes in mRNA expression levels in cells and tissues. Selection of the proper reference genes is very important when calibrating the results of real-time quantitative PCR. Studies on the selection of reference genes in goat tissues are limited, despite the economic importance of their meat and dairy products. We used real-time quantitative PCR to detect the expression levels of eight reference gene candidates (18S, TBP, HMBS, YWHAZ, ACTB, HPRT1, GAPDH and EEF1A2) in ten tissues types sourced from Boer goats. The optimal reference gene combination was selected according to the results determined by geNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper software packages. The analyses showed that tissue is an important variability factor in genes expression stability. When all tissues were considered, 18S, TBP and HMBS is the optimal reference combination for calibrating quantitative PCR analysis of gene expression from goat tissues. Dividing data set by tissues, ACTB was the most stable in stomach, small intestine and ovary, 18S in heart and spleen, HMBS in uterus and lung, TBP in liver, HPRT1 in kidney and GAPDH in muscle. Overall, this study provided valuable information about the goat reference genes that can be used in order to perform a proper normalisation when relative quantification by qRT-PCR studies is undertaken.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.303-321
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• 2011

The availability and efficient use of the feed resources in Asia are the primary drivers of performance to maximise productivity from animals. Feed security is fundamental to the management, extent of use, conservation and intensification for productivity enhancement. The awesome reality is that current supplies of animal proteins are inadequate to meet human requirements in the face of rapidly depleting resources: arable land, water, fossil fuels, nitrogenous and other fertilisers, and decreased supplies of cereal grains. The contribution of the ruminant sector lags well behind that of non-ruminant pigs and poultry. It is compelling therefore to shift priority for the development of ruminants (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep) in key agro-ecological zones (AEZs), making intensive use of the available biomass from the forage resources, crop residues, agro-industrial by-products (AIBP) and other non-conventional feed resources (NCFR). Definitions are given of successful and failed projects on feed resource use. These were used to analyse 12 case studies, which indicated the value of strong participatory efforts with farmers, empowerment, and the benefits from animals of productivity-enhancing technologies and integrated natural resource management (NRM). However, wider replication and scaling up were inadequate in project formulation, including systems methodologies that promoted technology adoption. There was overwhelming emphasis on component technology applications that were duplicated across countries, often wasteful, the results and relevance of which were not clear. Technology delivery via the traditional model of research-extension linkage was also inadequate, and needs to be expanded to participatory research-extension-farmer linkages to accelerate diffusion of technologies, wider adoption and impacts. Other major limitations concerned with feed resource use are failure to view this issue from a farming systems perspective, strong disciplinary bias, and poor links to real farm situations. It is suggested that improved efficiency in feed resource use and increased productivity from animals in the future needs to be cognisant of nine strategies. These include priorities for feed resource use; promoting intensive use of crop residues; intensification of integrated ruminant-oil palm systems and use of oil palm by-products; priority for urgent, wider technology application, adoption and scaling up; rigorous application of systems methodologies; development of adaptation and mitigation options for the effects of climate change on feed resources; strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages; development of year round feeding systems; and striving for sustainability of integrated farming systems. These strategies together form the challenges for the future.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1712-1720
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• 2014

Little is known about the gender differences in energetic requirements of goats in early life. In this study, we determined the energy requirements for maintenance and gain in intact male, castrated male and female Saanen goat kids using the comparative slaughter technique and provide new data on their body composition and energy efficiency. To determine the energy requirements for maintenance, we studied 21 intact males, 15 castrated males and 18 females ($5.0{\pm}0.1kg$ initial body weight (BW) and $23{\pm}5d$ of age) using a split-plot design with the following main factors: three genders (intact males, castrated males, and females) and three dry matter intake levels (ad libitum, 75% and 50% of ad libitum intake). A slaughter group included three kids, one for each nutritional plane, of each gender, and all three animals within a group were slaughtered when the ad libitum kid reached 15 kg in BW. Net energy requirements for gain were obtained for 17 intact males, eight castrated males and 15 females ($5.1{\pm}0.4kg$ BW and $23{\pm}13d$ of age). Animals were fed ad libitum and slaughtered when they reached 5, 10, and 15 kg in BW. A digestion trial was performed with nine kids of each gender to determine digestible energy, metabolizable energy and energy metabolizability of the diet. Our results show no effect of gender on the energy requirements for maintenance and gain, and overall net energy for maintenance was $205.6kJ/kg^{0.75}$ empty body weight gain (EBW) ($170.3kJ/kg^{0.75}$ BW) from 5 to 15 kg BW. Metabolizable energy for maintenance was calculated by iteration, assuming heat production equal to metabolizable energy intake at maintenance, and the result was $294.34kJ/kg^{0.75}$ EBW and $k_m$ of 0.70. As BW increased from 5 to 15 kg for all genders, the net energy required for gain increased from 9.5 to 12.0 kJ/g EBW gain (EWG), and assuming $k_g=0.47$, metabolizable energy for gain ranged from 20.2 to 25.5 kJ/g EWG. Our results indicate that it is not necessary to formulate diets with different energetic content for intact male, castrated male and female Saanen goat kids weighing from 5 to 15 kg.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2020

Objective: The effects of Pleurotus ostreatus on the feed utilization of broad bean stalks (BBS), rape straw (RS), paddy straw (PS), and corn stalk (CS) was examined. Methods: The four roughages were co-cultured with Pleurotus ostreatus. The chemical composition; enzyme activities of laccase, carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) and xylanase; carbohydrate and protein fractions (based on The Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System [CNCPS]) were assessed at different days after inoculation (7, 14, 21, 28 d) and un-inoculated roughages (control, 0 d). The digestibility of nutrient components and the gas production of roughage with various incubation times were monitored at 0, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 h using an in vitro ruminal fermentation method. Results: A higher CMCase activity (0.1039 U/mL) and earlier time to peak (14 d) were detected in Pleurotus ostreatus cultured with CS (p<0.05). Significantly, the incubation length-dependent responses of cumulative gas production were observed from 24 to 72 hours post fermentation (p<0.05), and these incubation length-dependent effects on cumulative gas production of PS and CS appeared earlier (24 h) for PS and CS than those (48 h) for BBS and RS (p<0.05). The fast-degradable carbohydrate (CA) content for all four roughages significantly increased over time (p<0.05). Nonetheless, increased degradation efficiency for CA treated with Pleurotus ostreatus was detected at both 21 and 28 days of incubation (p<0.05). With the exception of PS (p<0.05), there were no significant difference among the roughages (p>0.05) in slowly-degradable carbohydrate (CB2) at different incubation times (p<0.05). Conclusion: Assessment of the alterations in chemical composition, CNCPS system fractions, and the fermentation kinetics after biological pretreatment may yield a valuable database for evaluating the biological pretreatment of Pleurotus ostreatus in ruminant feed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.255-261
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• 2013

The objective of the present study was to determine the minimum alcohol (ethanol) concentration that gives rise to the coagulation of goat milk for the alcohol precipitation test, and to evaluate the physical parameters of goat milk which include alcohol and heat stability. A total of 1,295 udder-half milk samples from 648 lactating dairy goats were collected from seven farms in Jeonnam province, Republic of Korea, to determine the alcohol and heat stability. The majority (99.6%) of the samples were coagulated when 70% ethanol was added to the milk, while only 11.0% of the samples were precipitated by the addition of an equal volume of 45% ethanol. With the concentration of 65%, 60%, 55% and 50% aqueous ethanol, 99.2%, 96.8%, 81.0% and 52.8% of the milk samples were coagulated, respectively. Of 1,295 dairy goat milk samples tested for heat stability, 127 (9.8%) were coagulated by boiling. Among the 143 alcohol test-positive udder-half milk samples, 52 (4.0%) were unstable by heat test, while 1,032 (79.7%) of the 1,152 alcohol test-negative milk samples were stable by heat test. According to the results of boiling test, sensitivity and specificity of 45% alcohol precipitation test were 0.3023 (95% CI: 0.2346~0.3772) and 0.9190 (95% CI: 0.9017~0.9344), respectively. The contents of protein and the specific gravity were higher in the milk samples of 45% alcohol test-positive than in those of 45% alcohol test-negative. However, lower levels of lactose and milk urea nitrogen were observed in the milk samples of 45% alcohol test-positive compared to the alcohol test-negative milk samples. The lowest pH values ($6.73{\pm}0.20$) were shown in the 45% alcohol test-negative and heat-unstable milk samples, while the lowest values of somatic cell counts and bacterial counts were shown in the 45% alcohol test-negative and heat-stable milk samples. Results of this study suggest that the alcohol precipitation for dairy goat milk may have to be tested with ethanol concentration less than 45% for the determination of freshness and heat-stability.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.93-97
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• 2020

The cestode Taenia hydatigena uses canids, primarily dogs, as definitive hosts, while the metacestode larval stage cysticercus infects a range of intermediate hosts, including domestic animals such as goats, sheep, and pigs. Cysticercosis due to T. hydatigena has large veterinary and economic drawbacks. Like other taeniids, e.g., Echinococcus, intraspecific variation is found among the members of the genus Taenia. In Africa, few studies are available on the epidemiology and distribution of T. hydatigena, and even fewer studies are available on its genetic variation. In this study, we molecularly identified 11 cysticerci from sheep in Sudan and demonstrated the genetic variation based on the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) mitochondrial genes. The isolates were correctly identified as T. hydatigena with more than 99% similarity to those in the GenBank database. Low diversity indices and insignificant neutrality indices were observed, with 3 and 2 haplotypes for the nad1 and cox1 genes, respectively. The results suggest the presence of unique T. hydatigena haplotypes in Sudan, as haplotypes with 100% similarity were not found in the GenBank database. With few available studies on the genetic variation of T. hydatigena in Africa, this report represents the first insights into the genetic variation of T. hydatigena in Sudan and constitutes useful data.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-74
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• 1985

Serum levels of LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol-$17{\beta}$ and progesterone were investigated every 20 days after the day of mating for the period of 140 days, at the day of parturition and thereafter 10 th and 20th day postpartum in Korean native goats. Serum levels of LH were highest with 1.95 mIU/ml at the 60 days after gestation, but maintained high levels until 100 days after gestation, and thereafter decreased gradually to 0.02 mIU/ml at the day of parturition. Prolactin concentrations increased from the 140 days after gestation, and showed highest levels with 29.75 ng/ml at the day of parturition, then decreased gradually. FSH levels determined were below 1.25 mIU/ml during the experimental period. Estradiol-$17{\beta}$ concentrations increased gradually from 7.51 pg/ml at the 20 days after gestation to 159.62 pg/ml at the day of parturition, and decreased rapidly after parturition. Progesterone levels were highest with 6.62 ng/ml at the 120 days after gestation, the decreased rapidly to 1.25 ng/ml at the day of parturition.