This study evaluated the effects of TMC (trace mineral-fortified microbial culture) supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality parameters of Hanwoo steers during the last 4 months of finishing period. The TMC was a combination of 0.4% trace minerals, 20.0% Na-bentonite, and 79.6% feedstuffs, which was inoculated with a mixed microbial culture (Enterobacter ludwigii, Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Twenty-four steers were blocked by initial BW (634 ± 16 kg) and randomly allocated to one of two treatments (control vs. 3.3% TMC). The effect of TMC supplementation on the growth performance was not significant. There was no incidence of urolithiasis in TMCfed steers. However 3 out 12 steers (25%) fed the control diet were observed to have urinary calculi. The carcass yield and meat quality parameters were not affected by TMC supplementation, however marbling score was increased in TMC-fed steers (P = 0.08). There was no effect of TMC treatment on the chemical composition of longissimus dorsi muscle (LM). The TMC supplementation increased concentrations of manganese (P < 0.01), cobalt (P = 0.02), iron, and copper (P = 0.06) in LM. In conclusion, TMC treatment did not negatively affect growth performance and meat quality parameters, and positively affected the trace minerals profile of LM.

This study tested the association between genotypes of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker, rs81437607 and capric acid (FA_C10_0) compositions in longissimus dorsi muscle in pigs. Eighteen fatty acid (FA) compositions were measured in a total of 974 F2 animals among 1,106 F2 progeny produced between Landrace and Jeju Black Pig (JBP). Among FA compositions tested, we identified a cluster of highly significant SNPs for capric acid compositions on 58 Mb position of Sus scrofa chromosome 12 (SSC12) using genome-wide association study (GWAS) with F2 genotypes from SNP panel analysis. GWAS results showed that the rs81437607 was the highest trait-related SNP marker with capric acid levels. Three genotypes (C/C, C/T and T/T) of rs81437607 marker were found in F2 population by further pyrosequencing. Association analysis results showed the significant differences between rs81437607 genotypes and capric acid compositions (P<0.05). The F2 pigs harboring rs81437607 C/C (0.119±0.002%) and C/T (0.116±0.002%) genotypes showed additively higher levels of capric acid content than those of T/T homozygotes (0.109±0.002%) (P=1.30×10-12). These results suggested that the genetic variations of rs81437607 may be helpful to find causative variants and assist as molecular genetic markers for improving the capric acid contents in longissimus dorsi muscle in pigs.