Association of SNP Haplotypes at the Myostatin Gene with Muscular Hypertrophy in Sheep

Gan, S.Q.,Du, Z.,Liu, S.R.,Yang, Y.L.,Shen, M.,Wang, X.H.,Yin, J.L.,Hu, X.X.,Fei, J.,Fan, J.J.,Wang, J.H.,He, Q.H.,Zhang, Y.S.,Li, N. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2008 Animal Bioscience Vol.21 No.7

The myostatin gene of seven important meat (Beltex (Australia), Beltex$\times$Huyang (F1), Meat and Multi-Prolific Chinese Merino Fine Wool, Meat Chinese Merino Fine Wool and Dorper (South Africa)) and non-meat (Huyang and Kazak) sheep breeds was analyzed to study the genetic basis of muscular hypertrophy (double muscling) phenotype in sheep. SNPs, four in regulatory regions and several in the introns in the myostatin gene, were identified, and the former four SNPs were used for further studies. Twelve haplotypes were predicted by PHASE program, of which four main haplotypes (1, 3, 7, 9) were present in 90% of the 364 sheep in the study. Haplotypes 1-4 were mainly present in meat breeds while haplotypes 7 and 9 dominated the non-meat breeds. The association between haplotypes and average daily gain (ADG) was analyzed among 116 sheep with production data, Haplo2 (CGAA) and Haplo8 (TGAA) were identified to have significant (p<0.05) effect on ADG by the model (JMP5.1 software) taking into account the effects of breed, family background, haplotype, birth weight and sex. ADG of these haplotype groups also correlated well (r = 0.82) with hypertrophic phenotype scores. In conclusion, the mutations -956 (T$\rightarrow$C), -41 (C$\rightarrow$A) and 6223 (G$\rightarrow$A) involved in Haplo2 and 8 may be associated with the double-muscling trait by influencing myostatin function and be suitable markers in selecting meat sheep.

Effect of Hybridization on Carcass Traits and Meat Quality of Erlang Mountainous Chickens

Yin, H.D.,Gilbert, E.R.,Chen, S.Y.,Wang, Y.,Zhang, Z.C.,Zhao, X.L.,Zhang, Yao,Zhu, Q. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2013 Animal Bioscience Vol.26 No.10

Native chickens hold a significant share of the market in China. In response to the huge demand from the market, the productivity of Chinese native chickens needs to be improved. Cross breeding is an effective method to increase productivity, although it might affect meat quality. In this study, two pure lines (SD02 and SD03) of Erlang mountainous chickens were hybridized with a yellow feather and faster growing line (SD01). The effect of hybridization on carcass and meat quality (physiochemical and textural traits) was measured in the $F_1$ population at d 91 of age. The hybrids exhibited higher body weight and dressed weight, and amount of semi-eviscerated, eviscerated, breast muscle and abdominal fat (p<0.05). Abdominal fat yield also increased (p<0.05) compared to the offspring of the two pure-lines. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in meat quality traits except for the myofiber diameter and density and the shear force of the breast muscle. Overall, the offspring of cross-lines were similar to pure lines in meat color, pH value, inosinic acid, crude protein, crude fat, dry matter, moisture content and amino acid composition in the breast muscle. These results suggest that productivity can be improved via cross-breeding while maintaining meat quality of the Erlang mountainous chicken.

Effect of Galacto-mannan-oligosaccharides or Chitosan Supplementation on Cytoimmunity and Humoral Immunity in Early-weaned Piglets

Yin, Y.-L.,Tang, Z.R.,Sun, Z.H.,Liu, Z.Q.,Li, T.J.,Huang, R.L.,Ruan, Z.,Deng, Z.Y.,Gao, B.,Chen, L.X.,Wu, G.Y.,Kim, S.W. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2008 Animal Bioscience Vol.21 No.5

Immunomodulatory feed additives might offer alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters in pig production. This experiment was designed to determine the effects of dietary galacto-mannan-oligosaccharide (GMOS) and chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) supplementation on the immune response in early-weaned piglets. Forty 15-day-old piglets (Duroc$\times$Landrace$\times$Yorkshire) with an average live body weight of $5.6{\pm}0.51kg$ were weaned and randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups that were fed maize-soybean meal diets containing either basal, 110 mg/kg of lincomycin, 250 mg/kg of COS or 0.2% GMOS, respectively, over a 2-week period. Another six piglets of the same age were sacrificed on the same day at the beginning of the study for sampling, in order to obtain baseline values. Interleukin (IL)-1${\beta}$gene expression in peripheral blood monocytes, jejunal mucosa and lymph nodes, as well as serum levels of IL-1${\beta}$ IL-2 and IL-6, IgA, IgG, and IgM, were evaluated for 5 pigs from each group at 15 and 28 days of age. The results indicate that weaning stress resulted in decreases in serum antibody and cytokine levels. Dietary supplementation with GMOS or COS enhanced (p<0.05) IL-1${\beta}$gene expression in jejunal mucosa and lymph nodes, as well as serum levels of IL-1${\beta}$ IL-2, IL-6, IgA, IgG and IgM compared to supplementation with lincomycin. These findings suggest that GMOS or COS may enhance the cell-mediated immune response in early-weaned piglets by modulating the production of cytokines and antibodies, which shows that GMOS or COS have different effects than the antibiotic on animal growth and health.

Expression Profiles of Cellular Retinol-binding Protein, Type II (CRBP II) in Erlang Mountainous Chickens

Yin, H.D.,Tian, K.,Li, D.Y.,Gilbert, E.R.,Xiao, L.H.,Chen, S.Y.,Wang, Y.,Liu, Y.P.,Zhao, X.L.,Zhu, Q. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2014 Animal Bioscience Vol.27 No.3

Cellular retinol-binding protein II (CRBP II) belongs to the family of cellular retinol-binding proteins and plays a major role in absorption, transport, and metabolism of vitamin A. In addition, because vitamin A is correlated with reproductive performance, we measured CRBP II mRNA abundance in erlang mountainous chickens by real-time PCR using the relative quantification method. The expression of CRBP II showed a tissue-specific pattern and egg production rate-dependent changes. The expression was very high (p<0.05) in jejunum and liver, intermediate in kidney, ovary, and oviduct, and lowest (p<0.05) in heart, hypothalamus, and pituitary. In the hypothalamus, oviduct, ovary, and pituitary, CRBP II mRNA abundance were correlated to egg production rate, which increased from 12 wk to 32 wk, peaked at 32 wk relative to the other time points, and then decreased from 32 wk to 45 wk. In contrast, the expression of CRBP II mRNA in heart, jejunum, kidney, and liver was not different at any of the ages evaluated in this study. These data may help to understand the genetic basis of vitamin A metabolism, and suggest that CRBP II may be a candidate gene to affect egg production traits in chickens.

Optical properties and radiative forcing of urban aerosols in Nanjing, China

B.L. Zhuang,T.J. Wang,S. Li,R. Talbot,H.T. Mao,X.Q. Yang,C.B. Fu,C.Q. Yin,J.L. Zhu,J. Tian,X.Y. Zhang,H.Z. Che 한국대기환경학회 2013 한국대기환경학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2013 No.8

Enhanced energy storage properties in PbZrO3 thin films via the incorporation of NiO

Wang X.W.,Chen J.Y.,Hu S.Y.,Yu K.X.,Yang F.,Shi Y.J.,Li J.H.,Hou M.Z.,Liu A.D.,Zheng M.M.,Yin S.Q.,Hu Y.C.,Shang J. 한국물리학회 2023 Current Applied Physics Vol.52 No.-

In this study, NiO–PbZrO3 composite films were deposited on SiO2/Si substrates buffered with LaNiO3 films via the sol-gel coating technique. The effects of NiO addition in PZO thin films on the microstructure, dielectric properties, leakage mechanism, ferroelectric properties and energy storage properties have been discussed. The dielectric constant increased with the addition of NiO, while the leakage current density decreased. Compared with pure PZO films, the maximum polarization of the composite films was improved. For the composite films prepared using the NiO precursor solution with 0.05 mol/L, the recoverable energy storage density of the NiO-PZO composite film is up to 19.6 J/cm3 under the electric field of 1038 kV/cm, which is 30% higher than that of the pure PZO film under the same conditions. Also, the energy storage efficiency of the composite film reaches 48%. Accordingly, we demonstrate a simple and convenient method by adding NiO to fabricate thin films with high energy storage performance.

Effects of a Stair-step Growth Pattern on Improvements in Meat Quality and Growth in Hanwoo Steers

Li, Z.H.,Lee, H.G.,Xu, C.X.,Hong, Z.S.,Jin, Y.C.,Yin, J.L.,Zhang, Q.K.,Piao, D.C.,Yang, U.M.,Choi, Y.J. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2010 Animal Bioscience Vol.23 No.11

The present study was conducted to examine the effect of a stair-stepped feed intake pattern on growth, feed efficiency, and meat quality of Hanwoo steers. Twenty-seven 11-month-old Hanwoo steers were randomly divided into three groups. The control group was fed according to the Korean steer feeding program, and the other two groups were fed according to an alternated feeding schedule of 3-2-4-2 months. During the first three months of the experiment, treatment group 1 (T1) and treatment group 2 (T2) were fed 20% and 30% less than the control group, respectively. For the following two months, the T1 group was fed 20% more than the control group while the T2 group was fed 20% less than the control group. In the third step, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% and 10% less, respectively, than the control group for four months. In the last two months, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% more than the control group. After the stair-step feeding trial, steers were fed concentrated feed ad libitum for five months. The altered feed intake pattern did not affect daily body weight gain. However, daily feed intake tended to decrease and growth efficiency tended to increase in the two treatment groups compared to the control group. Altered feed intake also affected blood metabolite levels. The serum glucose and BUN level of the T1 group increased in the first re-fed period compared to the T2 and control groups. The serum cholesterol level of the T2 group decreased in the first restricted-re-fed growth period compared to the T1 and control groups. The serum NEFA levels of the two treatment groups increased from the first restricted period compared to the controls. The serum insulin level of the T2 group increased in the last period compared to the T1 and control groups. Regarding meat yield index, the control group was significantly higher than the T2 group (p<0.05). Regarding meat yield grade, the carcass back fat thickness of the T2 group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05). In marbling score, the T1 group was the highest (4.9), followed by the control group (4.1) and the T2 group (4.0). These results indicate that using a stair-stepped growth pattern (T1) can contribute to improvements in growth efficiency and muscle marbling.