This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ImmunoSEB as an immune-booster additive on the performance of broiler chicks. A total of 1150 broiler chickens were randomly allotted to three treatments on the basis of body weight (10 pens per treatment with 40 broilers in each pen): the control (CON), CON + ImmunoSEB 0.025% in feed (SEB25), and CON + ImmunoSEB 0.050% in feed (SEB50). The experiment was conducted for d 42 in three phases (phase 1, d 0–14; phase 2, d 15–28; and phase 3, d 29–42). There were significant differences in the average daily gain (ADG) and feed intake. The ADG at d 14 in the SEB50 treatment was greater than that in the CON treatment. The overall ADG in the SEB50 treatment was greater than that in the CON treatment. During d 0–14, the feed intake of chickens in the SEB50 treatment increased compared to that in the CON treatment. The crude protein and lysine digestibility improved in the SEB25 and SEB50 treatments compared to those in the CON treatment at d 28. Superoxide dismutase concentration significantly increased in the SEB50 treatment compared to that in the CON treatment. The interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α concentrations were higher in the cecum of chickens in the CON treatment than in the SEB25 and SEB50 treatments. A lower population of E. coli was detected in the ileum and cecum of broilers fed the SEB50 diet compared to those of broilers fed the CON diet. The overall result showed the beneficial effects of using ImmunoSEB at a dose of 0.050% in broiler chickens.
This study aimed to investigate the impacts of extreme weather on the dry matter yield (DMY) of silage maize in South Korea. The maize data (n=3,041) were collected from various reports of the new variety of adaptability experiments by the Rural Development Administration (1978-2017). Eight weather variables were collected: mean temperature, low temperature, high temperature, maximum precipitation, accumulated precipitation, maximum wind speed, mean wind speed, and sunshine duration. These variables were calculated based on ten days within seeding to harvesting period. The box plot detected an outlier to distinguish extreme weather from normal weather. The difference in DMY between extreme and normal weather was determined using a t-test with a 5% significance level. As a result, outliers of high-extreme precipitation were observed in July and August. Low-extreme mean temperature was remarkable in middle May, middle June, and late July. Moreover, the difference in DMY between extreme and normal weather was greatest (5,597.76 kg/ha) during the maximum precipitation in early July. This indicates that the impact of heavy rainfall during the Korean monsoon season was fatal to the DMY of silage maize. However, in this study, the frequency of extreme weather was too low and should not be generalize. Thus, in the future, we plan to compare DMY with statistical simulations based on extreme distributions.
The present trial verified the effects of spraying microbial agents on odor reduction in commercial pig farms of different operating sizes and barn types. Farms without microbial agent spraying and those sprayed with microbial agents at two different intervals were compared. The treatments included spraying of water alone every day or a mixture of water plus microbial agent at 24 and 72 h intervals. The experimental farms were divided according to size into 1,000-, 3,000-, and 5,000-head farms and according to barn type into gestation, farrowing, nursery, and grower-finisher farms. To compare odor concentration within each housing barn, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gas levels were measured. The average concentrations of ammonia (p<0.01) and hydrogen sulfide (p<0.05) gas were the lowest in all types of farms sprayed with the microbial agent at a 24 h interval. In farms sprayed with the microbial agent at a 24 h interval, the decrease in ammonia concentration according to barn type was in the following order: farrowing (p<0.01) (11.0 to 1.8 ppm), nursery (p<0.05) (17.0 to 9.2 ppm), grower-finisher (15.3 to 8.8 ppm), and gestation (9.7 to 6.4 ppm) farms. Moreover, spraying the microbial agent at a 24 h interval significantly (p<0.01) decreased ammonia concentration from 19.9 to 10.4 ppm, from 11.1 to 4.1 ppm, and from 8.8 to 5.1 ppm in 5,000-, 3,000-, and 1,000-head farms, respectively. Overall, spraying microbial agents every day may be the most effective method to reduce odor in commercial pig farms.
The objective of this study was the acoustic analysis of vocalizations of domestic dogs when they want to play with humans. Using a digital camcorder and microphone, we recorded and acoustically analyzed the vocalizations of six 7-month-old dogs (beagle) when they wanted to play with humans. The vocalizations were classified into five types, namely, barking (type Ⅰ, type Ⅱ), whining (type Ⅰ, type Ⅱ), and howling, based on the shapes of waveforms and spectrograms. There was a significant difference in the fundamental frequency (p<0.01), intensity (p<0.0001), 1st formant (p<0.001), 2nd formant (p<0.0001), 3rd formant (p<0.001), and 4th formant (p<0.05) among the vocalizations, whereas the duration was not different (p<0.05). Whining type I showed high values in the fundamental frequency and 3rd formant, while whining type II showed high values in the fundamental frequency and 1st, 2nd, and 4th formant. Further, bark types I and II showed high intensity values, with bark type II having a high value in the 1st formant. Finally, whining showed high values in the 4th formant only and significantly lower values in the 1st and 2nd formants than other vocalizations. Domestic dogs mainly exhibited barking and whining with differences in characteristics of fundamental frequency, intensity, and formant dispersion when they wanted to play with humans during the experiment. Accordingly, we suggest that vocalization could be a useful method for identifying dogs’ intentions or emotional state in a non-invasive manner.