This study was conducted to investigate effect of feeding beet pulp on reproductive performance, colostrum composition and microbiological characteristics in sows. A total of 12 sows(Landrace×Yorkshire) were randomly allotted three dietary treatments at gestating 90 days. The diets were prepared by adding 0, 5 and 10% of the beet pulp in basal diets. The pigs fed 5% beet pulp showed higher litter size than the 0 and 10% beet pulp treatments, although there was not significant among the treatments. Similarly, birth and 21days weight in piglet were not different among the treatments. In colostrum fat, protein, lactose, citric acid, solid, ffa, true protein were ranged to reference values, but not difference among the treatments. E.coli of feces was lower(P<0.01) in the 5% beet pulp than the 0 and 10% beet pulp treatments. But no effect was observed on Lactobacilli of feces among dietary treatments. These our results indicate the beet pulp has no significant effect of reproductive performance and colostrum composition in sows. But, 5% level beet pulp is effective for reduction of intestinal pathogenic microorganisms.

This study investigated the effect of dietary lysine and gamma-linolenic acid(GLA) levels on growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality in finishing pigs. Pigs were provided with feed containing two different levels of lysine(0.45% and 0.75%) with three different levels of gamma-linolenic acid(0.0, 0.3, and 0.6%). Average daily gain(ADG) was significantly lower (p<0.01) in pigs provided with the lower level of lysine. In contrast, feed/gain(p<0.01), diet cost/gain(p<0.05), and intramuscular fat(p<0.01) were all significantly higher in pigs fed the lower level of lysine. Similarly, meat color scores(CIE L*, a*, and b*) and cooking loss were significantly higher(p<0.01) in pigs fed the lower level of lysine, whereas shear force(kg/2.5 inch2)was not affected by dietary lysine. The addition of GLA had no significant effect on any of the parameters measured. The results indicate that providing pigs with 0.45% lysine in their diet may help to increase intramuscular fat content, allowing the industry to produce pork products that meet consumer needs in Korea.

본 연구는 고온 환경에서 Yorkshire 품종의 혈액 내 전해질과 혈액학적 성분의 변화를 조사하기 위하여 실시하였다. 73 일령(BW 40.6±1.4 kg)의 Yorkshire종 10두를 공시하여 개별 pen에 1두씩 배치하였다. 시험기간은 한국에서 폭염이 시작되는 2013년 7월 24일부터 동년 9월 4일까지 6주간 실시하였다. 시험기간 중 평균온도가 가장 높은 시기는 시험 3주차(28.6℃)였으며, 최고온도는 시험 4주(32.1℃)에 관찰되었다. 일당증체량은 온도가 가장 높았던 시험 3주차부터 감소하는 경향으로 나타났다. 혈청 내 pH와 삼투압은 시험기간 동안 유의적인 변화가 관찰되지 않았다. 나트륨이온 (P<0.01)과 염소이온(P<0.05)의 농도는 시험 6주에 유의적으로 증가하였다. 일반혈액검사 분석 결과에서 혈액 내 호중구(P<0.05)와 단핵구(P=0.057)의 수준은 시험 6주에 증가하고, 헤모글로빈과 평균 적혈구 혈색소 농도는 시험 4주와 6주에 감소하는 것으로 관찰되었다(P<0.05). 혈액생화학 분석에서는 총 콜레스테롤(P<0.01), 총 단백질(P<0.001)과 혈중 요소태 질소(P<0.01)의 농도가 4주와 6주에 높아지는 것으로 관찰되었으며, glucose 농도는 6주에 유의적으로 낮아졌다(P<0.05). 본 연구의 결과는 한국의 여름철 폭염기간 동안 돼지의 체내에서 생리생화학적, 혈액학적 변화가 어떻게 변하는지에 대한 기초정보를 제시하며, 이러한 정보는 혹서기 고온 스트레스로 인한 돼지 생산성저하 방지 기술을 개발하는 데에 기초자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of E. coli on boar sperm quality and reproductive performance in sows after artificial insemination. Three different levels of E. coli were artificially inoculated to semen with following concentrations; Control, 500, 5,000 and 50,000 colony forming unit (cfu)/ml. Semen samples were preserved at 17℃ for 5 days. Sperm motility was significantly decreased (p<0.05) on day 3 in the group inoculated with 5,000cfu/ml compared to control groups. In all treatment groups, sperm motility was gradually decreased as storage time increased, but the decline pattern was more drastic in the groups inoculated with 5,000 and 50,000 cfu/ml groups from day 3 (p<0.05) compared to control group. After 3 day of storage at 17℃, sperm viability in sample inoculated with the highest concentration (50,000 cfu/ml) of bacteria was less (p<0.05) than that of control group. The pH of semen sample pH was maintained 7.2～7.5 in all groups during the experimental period. No differences (p>0.05) were found for both storage time and bacterial concentration. The pregnancy rate and live born piglets tend to decrease by increasing the concentration of E. coli in semen. In particular, the rate of pregnancy was lower in the group inoculated with 50,000 cfu/ml (58.3%) compare to the other groups (81.8, 75.0, 76.5%). These results suggest that the contamination of E. coli in boar semen negatively affects fertilizing ability of boar sperm and the reproductive performance obtained from sows after artificial insemination.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of pelleted-Italian Ryegrass (IRG) as a source of fiber on reproduction performance in pregnant sows. A total of 24 pregnant sows were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments, which was given a corn-soybean diet with 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% pelleted-IRG from 105 days prepartum to 7 days postpartum. During experimental period, the sows fed the IRG supplemented diet showed the lower feed intake than the sows fed the control diet (p<0.05). The changes of body weight in sows from initial to pre- and/or post-partum was significantly smaller in sows fed the IRG supplemented diet than control group. It is thought that the lower weight gain in IRG supplemented groups is caused by low feed intake. Although there was no significant difference, sows fed the IRG supplemented diet tended to increase the litter size and birth weight in piglets compared with sows fed the control diet. This result suggests that the dietary supplementation of IRG has the positive effects to improve the reproductive performance in sows. But, the excessive feeding of IRG to sows might cause to retard the days of return to estrus, and decrease the contents of solid, milk protein, and milk fat in colostrum. Thus, the addition of about 10% IRG is desirable to increase the reproductive performance. Meanwhile, the feeding energy diet is better effective than feeding the fiber diets to improve overall productivity in sows after postpartum.

Substantial efforts have been made to manipulate ruminal environment in a hope to enhance ruminal fermentation efficiency for better ruminant productivity. Some of examples are methane inhibitors, antibiotics, microbial enzymes, fatty acids and/or lipid feeding, buffering agents, ionophores and probiotics. Of these efforts, the non-ionic surfactant (NIS) has been known for its stimulation to release enzymes from a range of anaerobic microbes. A series of studies were conducted 1) to evaluate NIS diluted with water and ethanol on in vitro ruminal fermentation and 2) to determine the influence of diluted NIS on digestibility of feedstuffs. In first experiment (Exp. 1), NIS was diluted with water or ethanol to measure its effects on in vitro microbial growth, ruminal enzyme activities and gas production by mixed ruminal microbial culture. The NIS was diluted with water or ethanol separately in a 1:5 ratio (w/v). Water and ethanol-diluted NIS with wheat flour were added with rice straw-based mixed ruminal microbial cultures at the rate of 2 ㎎ NIS/16 ㎖ McDougall buffer plus 4 ml ruminal fluid solution. The mixed ruminal microbial culture was run without any NIS addition as control. Addition of NIS either diluted with water or ethanol has significantly reduced the gas production in mixed ruminal microbial culture at 12 and 24 h of incubation. At 48 h post incubation, gas production was the highest with the addition of ethanol diluted NIS followed by water-diluted NIS and control. Carboxy methyl cellulase activity in rice straw-based mixed ruminal bacterial culture was significantly higher with the addition of ethanol-diluted NIS compared with the addition of water-diluted NIS and control at 24 and 72 h post incubation. In second in vitro experiment (Exp. 2), effects of addition of ethanol diluted NIS on dry matter (DM) digestibility of alfalfa hay, gas production, pH and cellular growth in mixed ruminal microbial culture were examined. Alfalfa hay based mixed ruminal microbial culture without any NIS addition was run as a control. The pH of mixed ruminal microbial culture was significantly lower than control at all post incubation sampling hours. In vitro DM digestibility of alfalfa hay was significantly higher with the addition of NIS compared with control. Gas production was significantly less with NIS addition compared with control at all post incubation sampling hours. Microbial growth in mixed ruminal microbial culture was significantly increased with the addition of NIS compared to control.

The objective of this study was two folds: to investigate the relationship between paternal identification rate and sperm quality parameters such as motility and sperm chromatin structure assay after heterospermic insemination; to see if mutual complement between tests and development of useful technique to enhance the fertility in artificial insemination. In individual boar's fertilizing ability, 3 high fertility boars showed significantly high fertility (p<0.05) compared to 3 low fertility boars, but there was no difference in litter size between two groups. Sperm motility test in pooled and individual semen using computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) revealed that no significant difference among boars. The high fertile boar showed tendency of low %Red (High red fluorescence/green+red fluorescence) in sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) but paternal identification rate from piglets did not differ after heterospermic insemination. The correlation coefficient between individual or pooled semen function test and farrowing rates were well correlated as follows: %Red with litter size (r= - 0.53, p=0.03); %Red with paternal identification rates (r=-0.51, p=0.03); paternal identification rates with litter size (r=0.57, p=0.02). These results indicate that sperm chromatin structure assay and sperm quality parameter test in pooled semen are useful method to predict and evaluate the fertilizing capacity after heterospermic insemination in boars.