• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1098-1103
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of ambient temperatures on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets with or without $NaHCO_3$ supplementation. A slaughter study was carried on 12 male Black Belly Barbados lambs randomly drawn from a growth trial (35 weeks). The lambs were divided into four equal groups and allotted in a $2{\times}2$ factorial design. The lambs were allotted at random to two dietary treatments of a basal diet (35:65 roughage:concentrate) or basal diet supplemented with 4% $NaHCO_3$ at different ambient temperatures ($20^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$) in an environment controlled chamber for 10 days. Lambs were slaughtered for carcass evaluation at about 262 days of age (245 days of growth trial, 7 days adaptation and 10 days of experimental period). Ambient temperature had significant (p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.001) effects on meat color from the ribeye area (REA), fat, leg and longissimus dorsi muscles with higher values recorded for lambs in the lower temperature group than those from the higher ambient temperature group. Significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value ($kg/cm^2$) recorded on the leg muscles showed higher values (5.32 vs 4.16) in lambs under the lower ambient temperature group compared to the other group. Dietary treatments had significant (p<0.01, p<0.01, and p<0.05) effects on meat color from the REA, fat, and REA fat depth ($cm^2$) with higher values recorded for lambs in the $NaHCO_3$ supplementation group than the non supplemented group. Similarly, dietary treatments had significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value ($kg/cm^2$) of the leg muscles with the $NaHCO_3$ groups recording higher (5.30 vs 4.60) values than those from the other group. Neither ambient temperature nor dietary treatments had any significant (p>0.05) effects on pH, and water holding capacity on both muscles. These results indicated that $NaHCO_3$ supplementation at low ambient temperatures had caused an increase in carcass characteristics leading to significant effect on meat quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 2008

The porcine PRKAG3 (RN) gene encodes the regulatory gamma subunit of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is a good candidate gene affecting meat quality. In this study, the effects of two missense mutations A595G (Ile199Val) and G154A (Gly52Ser) in porcine PRKAG3 gene on meat quality traits were studied in M. Longissimus dorsi (LD), M. Semispinalis capitis (SC) and M. Biceps femoris (BF) from different populations of 326 pigs. The PRKAG3 alleles 199I, 199IV, 52S and 52G were identified with PCR-RFLPs and all genotypes - 199I/199I, 199I/199V, 199V/199V, 52S/52S, 52S/52G and 52G/52G - were found. The frequency of V allele was larger than that of I allele in all populations. I allele frequency was zero in Chinese Meishan pigs (population D) especially. G allele frequency was larger than that of S allele in all populations except Large White (population A). Both variations at the PRKAG3 locus significantly affected these meat quality traits. The pork meat quality has not previously been established in Meishan or crosses thereof. The results suggested that generally pH of LD, SC and BF was higher in Meishan pigs than that in other populations. Moreover, Meishan pigs showed higher water-holding capacity and intramuscular fat (IMF), lower water content and water loss percentage compared to other populations in terms of the two variations. The results present here supply new evidence that alleles V199I and G52S at the PRKAG3 locus affect pork meat quality and provide useful information on pork production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.417-424
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to detect significant SNPs for carcass quality traits using DNA chips of high SNP density in Hanwoo populations. Carcass data of two hundred and eighty nine steers sired by 30 Korean proven sires were collected from two regions; the Hanwoo Improvement Center of National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Seosan, Chungnam province and the commercial farms in Gyeongbuk province. The steers in Seosan were born between spring and fall of 2006 and those in Gyeonbuk between falls of 2004 and 2005. The former steers were slaughtered at approximately 24 months, while the latter steers were fed six months longer before slaughter. Among the 55,074 SNPs in the Illumina bovine 50K chip, a total of 32,756 available SNPs were selected for whole genome association study. After adjusting for the effects of sire, region and slaughter age, phenotypes were regressed on each SNP using a simple linear regression model. For the significance threshold, 0.1% point-wise p value from F distribution was used for each SNP test. Among the significant SNPs for a trait, the best set of SNP markers were selected using a stepwise regression procedure, and inclusion and exclusion of each SNP out of the model was determined at the p<0.001 level. A total of 118 SNPs were detected; 15, 20, 22, 28, 20, and 13 SNPs for final weight before slaughter, carcass weight, backfat thickness, weight index, longissimus dorsi muscle area, and marbling score, respectively. Among the significant SNPs, the best set of 44 SNPs was determined by stepwise regression procedures with 7, 9, 6, 9, 7, and 6 SNPs for the respective traits. Each set of SNPs per trait explained 20-40% of phenotypic variance. The number of detected SNPs per trait was not great in whole genome association tests, suggesting additional phenotype and genotype data are required to get more power to detect the trait-related SNPs with high accuracy for estimation of the SNP effect. These SNP markers could be applied to commercial Hanwoo populations via marker-assisted selection to verify the SNP effects and to improve genetic potentials in successive generations of the Hanwoo populations.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.246-253
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• 2017

Objective: Present study explores the effect of hot summer period on the glycolytic rate of early post-mortem meat quality of Ghungroo and Large White Yorkshire (LWY) pig and comparative adaptability to high temperature between above breeds by shifting the expression of stress related genes like mono-carboxylate transporters (MCTs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs). Methods: Healthy pigs of two different breeds, viz., LYW and Ghungroo (20 from each) were maintained during hot summer period (May to June) with a mean temperature of about $38^{\circ}C$. The pigs were slaughtered and meat samples from the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles were analyzed for pH, glycogen and lactate content and mRNA expression. Following 24 h of chilling, LD muscle was also taken from the carcasses to evaluate protein solubility and different meat quality measurements. Results: LWY exhibited significantly (p<0.01) higher plasma cortisol and lactate dehydrogenase concentration than Ghungroo indicating their higher sensitivity to high temperature. LD muscle from LWY pigs revealed lower initial and ultimate pH values and higher drip loss compared to Ghungroo, indicating a faster rate of pH fall. LD muscle of Ghungroo had significantly lower lactate content at 45 min postmortem indicating normal postmortem glycolysis and much slower glycolytic rate at early postmortem. LD muscle of LWY showed rapid postmortem glycolysis, higher drip loss and higher degrees of protein denaturation. Ghungroo exhibited slightly better water holding capacity, lower cooking loss and higher protein solubility. All HSPs (HSP27, HSP70, and HSP90) and MCTs (MCT1, MCT2, and MCT4) in the LD muscle of pigs inclined to increase more in Ghungroo than LWY when exposed to high temperature. Conclusion: Effect of high temperature on the variation of HSPs and MCTs may play a crucial role in thermal tolerance and adaptation to different climatic conditions, pH regulation, muscle acidification, drip loss, protein denaturation and also in postmortem meat quality development.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1043-1061
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• 2018

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content in skeletal muscle including the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM), also known as marbling fat, is one of the most important factors determining beef quality in several countries including Korea, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Genetics and breed, management, and nutrition affect IMF deposition. Japanese Black cattle breed has the highest IMF content in the world, and Korean cattle (also called Hanwoo) the second highest. Here, we review results of research on genetic factors (breed and sex differences and heritability) that affect IMF deposition. Cattle management factors are also important for IMF deposition. Castration of bulls increases IMF deposition in most cattle breeds. The effects of several management factors, including weaning age, castration, slaughter weight and age, and environmental conditions on IMF deposition are also reviewed. Nutritional factors, including fat metabolism, digestion and absorption of feed, glucose/starch availability, and vitamin A, D, and C levels are important for IMF deposition. Manipulating IMF deposition through developmental programming via metabolic imprinting is a recently proposed nutritional method to change potential IMF deposition during the fetal and neonatal periods in rodents and domestic animals. Application of fetal nutritional programming to increase IMF deposition of progeny in later life is reviewed. The coordination of several factors affects IMF deposition. Thus, a combination of several strategies may be needed to manipulate IMF deposition, depending on the consumer's beef preference. In particular, stage-specific feeding programs with concentrate-based diets developed by Japan and Korea are described in this article.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.704-711
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• 2020

Objective: Muscle fiber types, numbers and area are crucial aspects associated with meat production and quality. However, there are few studies of pig muscle fibre traits in terms of the detection power, false discovery rate and confidence interval precision of whole-genome quantitative trait loci (QTL). We had previously performed genome scanning for muscle fibre traits using 183 microsatellites and detected 8 significant QTLs in a White Duroc×Erhualian F₂ population. The confidence intervals of these QTLs ranged between 11 and 127 centimorgan (cM), which contained hundreds of genes and hampered the identification of QTLs. A whole-genome sequence imputation of the population was used for fine mapping in this study. Methods: A whole-genome sequences association study was performed in the F₂ population. Genotyping was performed for 1,020 individuals (19 F₀, 68 F₁, and 933 F₂). The whole-genome variants were imputed and 21,624,800 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified and examined for associations to 11 longissimus dorsi muscle fiber traits. Results: A total of 3,201 significant SNPs comprising 7 novel QTLs showing associations with the relative area of fiber type I (I_RA), the fiber number per square centimeter (FN) and the total fiber number (TFN). Moreover, one QTL on pig chromosome 14 was found to affect both FN and TFN. Furthermore, four plausible candidate genes associated with FN (kinase non-catalytic C-lobe domain containing [KNDC1]), TFN (KNDC1), and I_RA (solute carrier family 36 member 4, contactin associated protein like 5, and glutamate metabotropic receptor 8) were identified. Conclusion: An efficient and powerful imputation-based association approach was utilized to identify genes potentially associated with muscle fiber traits. These identified genes and SNPs could be explored to improve meat production and quality via marker-assisted selection in pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.447-456
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of energy level of concentrate feed in finishing Hanwoo steers for 6 months before slaughter. Feeding trial was done with 2 treatment groups, IDN72 (72% of TDN in concentrate) and TDN74 (74 % of TDN in concentrate). The body weight (from 19 to 24 months) tended to be higher in TDN74 than in TDN72, but was not significant. Average daily gain of TDN74 was higher by 4.4 % in comparison to TDN72. There was no significant differences in concentrate, dry matter and TDN intake per I kg body weight gain between TDN72 and TDN74. And there was a tendency to improve crude protein intake per I kg body weight gain by increasing TDN content from 72 to 74 %. The dressing percentage tended to be higher in TDN74 than in TDN72, but was not significant. Salable meat percentage tended to be lower in TDN74 than in TDN72 because of higher body fat percentage in TDN74 than in TDN72. There were no significant differences in marbling score, meat color, fat color, carcass weight, rib-eye area and back fat thickness between TDN72 and TDN74. Significant differences were not found in shear value, cooking loss, water holding capacity or moisture and protein contents of longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles between TDN72 and TDN74. Fat content of LD muscles tend to be lower in TDN74 than in IDN72 but without any significance. There was a tendency to improve juiciness and taste by feeding IDN74 rather than TDN72. Especially, tenderness of TDN74 was increased by 7.4% in comparison to TDN72 (p < 0.05). Gross income from TDN74 was higher than TDN72 by 5% The results suggested that significant differences were not found in growth performance, feed conversion and carcass characteristics between TDN72 and TDN74. The results also show that more studies are required to clarify the energy level for finishing Hanwoo steers.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

We generated 57,598 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from 3 cDNA libraries of Hanwooo (Korean Cattle), fat, loin, liver. Liver, intermuscular fat and longissimus dorsi tissues were obtained from a 24-month-old Hanwoo steer immediately after slaughter. cDNA library was constructed according to the oligocapped method. The EST data were clustered and assembled into unique sequences, 4,759 contigs and 7,587 singletons. To carry out functional analysis, Gene Ontology annotation and identification of significant leaf nodes were performed that were detected by searching significant p-values from $2^{nd}$ level GO terms to leaf nodes using Bonferroni correction. We found that 13, 26 and 8 significant leaf nodes are unique in the transcripts according to 3 GO categories, molecular function, biological process and cellular component. Also digital gene expression profiling using the Audic's test was performed and tissue specific genes were detected in the above 3 libraries.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.633-639
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• 2013

This study was performed to investigate the physicochemical properties of striploin (m. longissimus dorsi), chuck tender (m. supraspinatus) and eye of round (m. semitendinosus) of Holstein steer beef produced from different fattening groups (18, 21, 24 mon-old). The intramuscular fat contents were significantly higher in striploin (9.14%) and eye of round (4.31%) from 24 mon-old groups when compared to the same cuts (6.53% and 2.63%) from 18 mon-old groups, respectively. Three muscles from 18 mon-old group had significantly higher moisture contents (%) than those from the other groups (p<0.05). The protein contents were significantly higher in chuck tender (19.39%) and eye of round (21.09%) from 24 mon-old group than 18- and 21 mon-old groups (p<0.05). There were not significantly different in collagen contents among three fattening groups. In meat color, striploin, chuck tender and eye of round from 21 mon-old group had significantly higher CIE $L^*$ (41.77), $a^*$ (20.98) and $b^*$ (10.87) values than those from the other groups (p<0.05). Warner-Bratzler shear force values (WBS) for three muscles were significantly lower in 24 mon-old group than the other groups (p<0.05). The oleic acids (C18:1n9) contents of three muscles from 24 mon-old group were highest (p<0.05) among three groups. Total contents of MUFA were significantly higher and total contents of PUFA including arachidonic acids (C20:4n6) were significantly lower in chuck tender and eye of round muscles from 24 mon-old group (p<0.05).

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.813-818
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to investigate effects of supplementation levels of L-leucine in low-lysine diets on growth performance and meat quality parameters in finishing Duroc pigs. A total of fifty-four pigs with an average initial weight of 74±1kg were allotted to one of three dietary treatments. Each treatment had six replications of three pigs per replicate. The treatment diets included 1)a corn-soybean meal basal diet containing lysine as low as 0.45% (CON), 2) basal diet plus 1.5% L-leucine (LEU 1.5), and 3) basal diet plus 3.0% L-leucine (LEU 3.0). No difference was found in ADG, ADFI and Feed/Gain among treatments. In carcass parameters, dressing precent and back-fat thickness were not affected by L-leucine levels, however, longissimus dorsi area tended to increase by supplementation of L-leucine. Marbling score was significantly higher (P<0.05) in LEU 1.5 and LEU 3.0 than in CON. In meat quality parameters, CIE L* of meat color significantly increased (P<0.05) and crude fat tended to increase by supplementation of L-leucine. However, there was no difference in water holding capacity, cooking loss and shear force value. This study suggests that dietary supplementation of L-leucine in low-lysine diets at the end of finishing period can produce high marbled pork which is preferred by Korean consumers.