Animal Science Journal, Nihon Chikusan Gakkaihō

The excellent flavor of Wagyu is becoming increasingly popular all over the world. However, the popularity of Wagyu has encouraged competition for authentic Japanese Wagyu, resulting in the appearance of inauthentic Wagyu beef. To ward off this export competition, Japanese Wagyu producers need to improve and differentiate their value-added beef. As hardly any past studies focus on the consumption of Japanese Wagyu in Hong Kong, this paper uses a choice experiment to examine the valuation of beef by Hong Kong consumers in terms of country of origin...

Genetic parameters and trends in the average daily gain (ADG), backfat thickness (BF), loin muscle area (LMA), lean percentage (LP), and age at 90 kg (D90) were estimated for populations of Landrace and Yorkshire pigs. Additionally, the correlations between these production traits and litter traits were estimated. Litter traits included total born (TB) and number born alive (NBA). The data used for this study were obtained from eight farms during 1999 to 2016. Analyses were carried out with a multivariate animal model to estimate genetic parameters for production traits while bivariate analyses were performed to estimate the correlations between production and litter traits...

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of virginiamycin on the metabolism and performance of growing Nellore bulls under low and high gain rates on pasture. In experiment 1, 80 Nellore bulls (age = 12 ± 2 months, body weight = 258 ± 15 kg) were assigned to 16 paddocks in a 2 × 2 randomized block factorial arrangement. In experiment 2, 12 cannulated Nellore bulls were assigned to three 4 × 4 balanced Latin squares. The factors were: (1) mineral salt without or with virginiamycin, and (2) low or high gain rate...

Epigenetic reprogramming confers totipotency even during somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which has been used to clone various animal species. However, as even apparently healthy cloned animals sometimes have aberrant epigenetic status, the harmful effects of these defects could be passed onto their offspring. This is one of the biggest obstacles for the application of cloned animals for livestock production. Here, we investigated the DNA methylation status of four developmentally regulated genes (PEG3, XIST, OCT4, and NANOG) in sperms from a cloned and a non-cloned bull, and blastocysts obtained by in vitro fertilization using those sperms and SCNT...

Normal estrous cycle is crucial for porcine reproduction, and microRNA is closely related to regulation of estrous cycle in porcine ovaries. In this study, we found that the expression of miR-214 in porcine ovaries was higher than in many other tissues, and miR-21 expression in ovaries was significantly higher than in the uterus and pituitary. Meanwhile, miR-21 was upregulated and miR-214 was downregulated in the ovaries of high litter size (YH) pigs compared with low litter size (YL) pigs. Moreover, the lowest expression of miR-21 and miR-214 occurred on Days 14 and 7 of the estrous cycle and was expressed at greater levels in the granulosa cells of subordinate follicles than in dominant follicles on Day 3 of the estrous cycle...

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of adding ascorbic acid 2-glucoside (AA2G), a water-soluble antioxidant and stable derivative of ascorbate, to the semen extender and compare it to the addition of vitamin C (Vit. C) and the fat-soluble antioxidant α-tocopherol (α-Toh), both individually and in combination, on the seminal variables of equine sperm submitted to cooling for 72 h. We used two ejaculates from 10 stallions and evaluated them for motility, membrane integrity, chromatin fragmentation, mitochondrial activity and lipid peroxidation...

Long-distance transportation has negative impacts on production and health in cattle. Feed and water are routinely deprived from cattle during transportation. We investigated whether niacin supplementation could improve niacin nutrition and mitigate the adverse effect of transportation with feed and water deprivation in steer calves. We also studied the adverse effect of feed and water deprivation in nontransported steer calves. Twelve calves were assigned to feed and water deprivation for 2 days, or full access to feed and water in experiment 1...

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of forage neutral detergent fiber (fNDF) levels on the voluntary feed intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation and feeding behavior of goats fed diets with cactus pear. Five non-lactating ruminally cannulated goats fed ad libitum were randomly assigned to a 5 × 5 Latin square design. Treatments consisted of levels of fNDF at 0, 109, 222, 339 and 463 g/kg of dry matter (DM) in cactus pear-based diets. The intakes of DM and NDF were quadratically affected (p ≦ ...

Bacterial genomic DNA has recently been shown to elicit a highly evolved immune defense. This response can be selectively triggered for a wide range of therapeutic applications, including use as a vaccine adjuvant to immunotherapies for allergy, cancer, and infectious diseases. Previously, we identified a low-concentration immune synergistic oligodeoxynucleotide (iSN-ODN, named iSN34) from Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG that has immunosynergistic activity upon costimulation of target cells with ligands of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9)...

We evaluated the effects of dietary supplementation with Chinese traditional herbal medicine (CTHM) on the growth performance, apparent digestibility, and nitrogen balance in Mongolian lambs and hoggs. The CTHM used as a dietary supplement consisted of 30% pine needles, 20% mugwort, 40% garlic, and 10% Astragalus mongholicus on a dry matter (DM) basis. The basal diet was prepared from corn stover, corn grain, wheat bran, rapeseed meal, shell meal, dicalcium phosphate, salt, vitamin premix, and mineral premix...

Enhancing the aerobic stability of silage is very important in silage production. The objective of this study was to compare the roles of a new bacterial strain Lactobacillus parafarraginis ZH1 with Lactobacillus plantarum Chikuso-1 (LP) and Lactobacillus buchneri NCIMB 40788 (LB) in improving the aerobic stability of oat silage and identify the anti-yeast substances produced by them. After ensiled for 45 days, either inoculated silages or control silage were of pH values lower than 4.2. The control and LP inoculated silage had poorer aerobic stability than LB and ZH1 inoculated ones (p < 0...

Marker gene analysis was performed to assess the effect of energy level on the diversity and population density of methanogens in pig fecal material. Crossbred pigs were fed high or low energy level diets, a high-energy (HE) diet that satisfied daily gain at 1.2 kg, and a low-energy (LE) diet with amount of 0.6 times of the HE diet. Growth performance and short-chain fatty acid in feces were examined. Diversity of methanogen was analyzed by the α-subunit of methyl coenzyme-M reductase gene (mcrA) clone library from fecal DNA...

The objective was to estimate genetic correlations between body weight (BW), scrotal circumference and visual evaluation scores of body conformation measured at standard ages in Guzerat cattle. All measurements were performed at 205 (weaning age), 365, 450 and 550 days of age; for BW, two additional measurements (at birth and 120 days of age) were realized. The data utilized in this study were retrieved from a database of the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders that contained information of registered Guzerat animals born between 1970 and 2013...

The aim of this study was to determine the most efficient vitrification protocol for the cryopreservation of day 7 in vitro produced (IVP) porcine blastocysts. The post-warm survival rate of blastocysts vitrified in control (17% dimethyl sulfoxide + 17% ethylene glycol [EG] + 0.4 mol/L sucrose) and commercial media did not differ, nor did the post-warm survival rate of blastocysts vitrified in medium containing 1,2-propandiol in place of EG. However, vitrifying embryos in EG alone decreased the cryosurvival rate (55...

In dairy cows, retained fetal membranes (RFM) affect reproductive performance. The aim of this study was to examine the leukocyte counts and the gene expression of tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-8, and IL-10 in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in cows with (n = 5) or without (n = 5) RFM during the peripartum period. The lymphocyte counts in RFM cows were higher than those in control cows throughout the experiment (p < ...

Despite the global increasing demand for goat milk, no data exist on the nutrient potential of Laoshan goat milk and limited information exists on its composition according to lactation period. In this study, the measured indicators, including dry matter, protein, immunoglobulin, lactoferrin, fat, ash, lactose, calcium, titratable acidity and pH from partum to 261 days postpartum of Laoshan goat milk, followed the same law of change. There was a significant difference over the first 5 days postpartum, after which no significant difference was observed until days 225 postpartum...

The aim of this study was to develop a prediction model on tenderization of goose breast meat by response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN). The experiments were operated on the basis of a three-level, three-variable (ultrasound power, ultrasound time, and storage time) Box-Behnken experimental design. Under RSM and ANN optimum conditions, experimental Meullenet-Owens razor shear (MORS) of meat (1862.6 g and 1869.9 g) was in reasonable agreement with predicted one. Nevertheless, better prediction capability of ANN was proved by higher R2 (0...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of back-fat thickness (BF), at mating of sows, on placental lipotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammation. We performed iTRAQ labeling-based proteomic analysis on term placentas obtained by vaginal delivery from BFI (15-20 mm, control) and BFII (21-27 mm, obese) sows formed according to BF at mating. Proteomic analysis revealed 413 proteins to be significantly different in placenta from BFII sows by ≥1.2-fold. Gene ontology (GO) analysis identified proteins related to lipid metabolism and inflammatory response to be altered in placenta from obese sows...

We conducted a meta-data analysis to develop prediction equations to estimate enteric methane (CH4 ) emission from beef cattle in Southeast Asia. The dataset was obtained from 25 studies, which included 332 individual observations on nutrient intakes, digestibilities, and CH4 emissions. Cattle were provided tropical forage or rice straw, with or without concentrates in individual pens equipped with indirect open-circuit head hood apparatus. The simplest and best equation to predict daily CH4 emission was CH4 (g/day) = 22...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether freeze-dried germinal vesicles (GV) can be matured in vitro after being injected into enucleated fresh oocytes in pigs as an alternative method for conservation of genetic resources. Although no reduction of the size of GV (p = .094), resveratrol treatment significantly enhanced the survival rates following GV transfer (GVT) (p < .001). Supplementation with 100 or 200 mmol/L trehalose in freeze-drying medium significantly increased the proportions of GVs with intact nuclear membrane and DNA integrity compared with the control group...