This is about the successful use of eCG and hCG for producing a Siberian tiger pup born from 10-year-old, primiparous, albino Siberian tiger. From February 2010 to July 2010, natural breeding had been tried three times with no conception. During this period of five months, estrus behaviors appeared to be typically normal and a lot of matings were observed. After consecutive failures, 1000 IU eCG (equine chorionic gonadotropin) were intramuscularly injected on the day showing estrus behavior, followed with an injection of 750 IU hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) 80 hours later. The tiger stopped recurrence of estrus, and a cub, weighed 780 gram, was born alive 104 days after hCG injection. This study is the first report showing the unique, successful use of exogenous hormones as one of artificial breeding programs in the long history of captive breeding of carnivorous zoo animals in Korea.

Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum was found to be highly virulent to various vegetables, including Chinese cabbage. The antibacterial isolate CAB12243-2 was tested in a field bioassay for suppressing soft rot disease. The nucleotide sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene identified, the CAB12243-2 strain used in this study as Bacillus toyonensis. B. toyonensis CAB12243-2 inhibited the pectate lyase process by soft rot pathogens, and used trehalose and glucose as carbon sources. In field tests, the antibacterial isolate B. toyonensis CAB12243-2 suppressed soft rot disease with 73.0% control efficacy on the spring cultivar “Norangbom” and with 68.9% efficacy on the fall cultivar “Bulam 3”. These results suggest that B. toyonensis CAB12243-2 can be used as a biological control agent for the control of soft rot diseases on vegetables.