Egg white samples from native chickens were collected in 4 local areas (Jomson, Solu-Khumbu, Pokhara and Biratnagar) in Nepal. Polymorphisms of egg white proteins were analyzed by using electrophoresis. 1) Of the 19 egg white samples collected in Biratnagar, 7 samples were colorless with defective flavoprotein (riboflavin binding protein). 2) Polymorphisms were found in Ovoalbumin (Ov), Ovoglobulin (G₂ and G₃) and Conalbumin (Tf_EW) loci, but not found in Post-conalbumin (P_c) and Lysozyme (G₁). 3) Average heterozygosities of each local population, the index of subdivision and genetic distances among local population were estimated as 0.1113-0.2217, 0.1419 and 0.011-0.023, respectively.

View full abstract

The age at which ejaculatory ability is achieved and age-related changes in the characteristics of ejaculates were examined in Meishan boars. All of the 12 boars examined showed detachment of the penis from the prepuce by 64 days of age. The first ejaculate could be collected at 73 to 78 days of age. The volume of the liquid portion, the weight of the gelatinous material, the total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate and the sperm concentration increased significantly until 11, 10, 9 and 5 months of age, respectively. Percentages of progressively motile spermatozoa and morphologically abnormal spermatozoa in the ejaculates altered greatly until 3 months of age, and thereafter stayed at a good level. Percentages of live spermatozoa with normal acrosomes after storage at 4°C for 5 and 10 days were higher in ejaculates collected from boars older than 9 months, and percentages of progressively motile spermatozoa and live spermatozoa with normal acrosomes after freeze-thawing in boars older than 8 months. These results suggest that Meishan boars acquire ejaculatory ability at approximately 2 months of age, but should not be used in service until later ages. It is also suggested and that ejaculates from boars younger than 9 months are less suitable for storage at 4°C-196°C.

View full abstract

To clarify whether or not an increase of the intestinal villi in size is induced by the increase of the cell proliferation, post-hatching developmental changes of the villous size and the cell mitotic numbers in the crypt were observed in the 1-, 10- and 20-day-old broiler chickens. Newly-hatched chicks were bred in the following nutritional conditions; conventional, high protein-low energy (HL) or low protein-high energy (LH) dietary groups. Besides, in the fasted group for 5 days after hatching morphological alterations of the villi were observed. The intestine of HL group increasing food intake and growing fast had well-developed large villi with marked extrusions of cells at the apex and showed much mitotic division of epithelial cells in the crypt even at 10-day-old. The LH group decreasing food intake and growing slow had small villi and showed few cell mitoses. Denuded apical surfaces were also frequently observed at 20-day-old. In fasted group, shrunk villi and denuded apical surfaces were found. The present findings indicate that the increase of villous size might be induced by the active cell proliferation in the intestinal crypts as well as by the decreased cell loss from the villous tips.

View full abstract

Three female sheep fitted with two T-shape cannulae in the upper small intestine were used for studying phosphorus absorption. They were fed alfalfa-timothy hay and a mixed concentrate diet at the level of 2% of body weight. The absorption study was conducted using temporarily isolated small intestine. Three different levels of phosphorus solution (10, 25 and 50mmol/l) were perfused at 10ml/min from the upper cannula and the concentrations of electrolytes in the drainage from the lower cannula were measured to determine absorption rates and efficiencies of electrolytes. The phosphorus absorption rate was increased with increasing phosphorus concentration in perfusate, i. e. the absorption rates were 46.6μmol/min and 112.2μmol/min in 10mmol/l and 50mmol/l of phosphorus concentration of perfusate, respectively. The efficiency of phosphorus absorption showed a significant reduction from 45.2% in 10mmol/l phosphorus in perfusate to 22.4% in 50mmol/l phosphorus in perfusate. The results suggest that phosphorus absorption from the small intestine depends on a phosphorus concentration in liquid phase digesta.

View full abstract

The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of hypomagnesemia induced by feeding a low magnesium (Mg) and high potassium (K) diet on lipid concentrations in plasma and rates of oxidation of primary nutrients in sheep. Sheep were fed either a control or low Mg/high K diet containing 0.38 and 0.05% magnesium on dry matter basis, respectively for over 10 days. Insulin-induced glucose uptake was measured using a euglycemic clamp technique, and respiratory gas analysis was performed to estimate oxidation rates of carbohydrate, fat and protein in the 24-hr starved state and during the euglycemic clamp experiment. Sheep fed the low magnesium (Mg) /high potassium (K) diet had lower (P<.01) plasma Mg levels than the control diet-fed group. Plasma phospholipids elevated (P<.10), and triglycerides and free fatty acids tended to increase in the hypomagnesemic sheep fed the low Mg/high K diet. In the euglycemic clamp experiment, insulin-induced glucose uptake tended to decrease in the hypomagnesemic group, but not significantly. The diet treatment and euglycemic clamp experiment did not affect energy expenditure (heat production), but the low Mg/high K diet-fed sheep had slightly reduced (P<.13) non-protein respiratory quotient (RQ). The low Mg/high K diet feeding increased (P<.06) fat oxidation rate, and tended to decrease carbohydrate oxidation rate, though the rates of oxidation were unaffected by performing the euglycemic clamp experiment. These results indicated that hypomagnesemia induced by a low Mg/high K diet feeding stimulated lipid metabolism, and increased the fat oxidation rate in sheep.

View full abstract

The concentration of plasma amino acids responses to changes of dietary amino acids so sensitively that it is used as a useful criterion to estimate the amino acid requirements or the nutritional status of animals. However, it is affected by many factors other than dietary factors. Thus, in order to use the concentration of plasma amino acid as a criterion, it is necessary to make clear some effects of factors affecting the concentration of plasma amino acids. In the present study, the relationship between body weight, feed intake or oviposition and the concentrations of various amino acids in the plasma were investigated. The results were summarized as follows; 1) The heavy hens laid more egg and consumed more diet than light ones. However, there was no correlation between the body weight and the concentration of plasma amino acids. 2) There was no significant relationship between the feed intake and the concentration of plasma amino acids in the hens laid for successive 3 days. 3) The concentrations of plasma amino acids, except serine, tended to be equal or high in the hens not laid compared with that of hens laid on that day, but not significantly except valine. 4) The concentrations of 8 out of 14 amino acids in the plasma showed the lowest value in the hens laid for successive 3 days and 10 out of 14 amino acids showed the highest value in the hens not laid before sampling day. 5) As a result, it was suggested that egg production affected the concentrations of various amino acids in the plasma and it was necessary to take a blood sample of laying hen with same record of egg production for use of the concentration of plasma amino acid as a criterion for determination of amino acid requirement.

View full abstract

Model selection in sire evaluation by Akaike's Bayesian information criterion (ABIC) was examined with Japanese Holstein first lactation data. The first half data, collected from 1975 to 1984, were used to evaluate sire merits by four sire models and four maternal grandsire models and to compute ABIC. Fixed effects were herd-year effect, calving month effect and age at calving effect. Predicts of the pair of sire and maternal grandsire were computed from the sum of sire merits and half of grandsire merits. The last half data, collected from 1985 to 1987, were used to compute actual average values of the pair of sire and maternal grandsire. Rank correlations between actual average values of the pair and predicts of the pair were obtained. For milk yields, the rank correlations increased as the values of ABIC were smaller. For fat percentage and SNF percentage, the rank correlations of maternal grandsire models were larger than those of sire models, and the values of ABIC of maternal grandsire models were smaller than those of sire models. The rank correlations within maternal grandsire models or within sire models were almost the same values for fat percentage and SNF percentage.

View full abstract

Ovaries, oviducts and uterine horns collected from a total of seventeen Meishan×Landrace gilts of various ages were examined histologically. Vesicular follicles were already observed in ovaries at 45 days of age. Subsequently the ovarian weight increased rapidly up to 75 days of age, as the increase of protruding vesicular follicles. Between 75 and 105 days of age, the number of protruding follicles did not change significantly. One gilt at 120 days and all at 135 days of age had ovaries with corpora lutea. The weights of the oviducts and the uterine horns increased rapidly from 45 days and from 60 days of age, respectively. Thickness of the inner circular and outer longitudinal layers of the myometrium also increased rapidly from 45 days of age. After the onset of estrous cycles, the weight of the uterine horns increased markedly. These results show that 1) the ovaries of Meishan×Landrace gilts develop rapidly from 45 days of age, which development is accompanied by the increase of the weight of the oviducts and uterine horns; and 2) the gilts start estrous cycles between 120 and 135 days of age.

View full abstract

Six 12-month-old Holstein steers were assigned to two groups fed on grass hay (G-group) or high fibrous roughage consisting of a 1:1 ratio of steamed hard wood and alfalfa hay cube on a DM basis (W-group), for 153 days in the first fattening stage. In the latter fattening stage, both groups were fed via ad libitum feeding of grass silage and concentrate for 139 days. In the first stage, the roughage DM intake and body weight gain of W-group were higher than those of G-group. The plasma insulin level of G-group increased in the latter stage, but the level of W-group did not change throughout the fattening stage. The increase in insulin level throughout the fattening stage seemed to be suppressed by a great deal of roughage intake in the first stage. The elevation of the plasma glucose level after noradrenaline infusion tended to be higher in G-group than in W-group, while the elevation of FFA was higher in W-group than in G-group, although these differences between the two groups were not significant. The elevations in plasma triacylglycerol and insulin levels were significantly higher in the latter stage than in the first stage. The judging grades for beef carcasses were not different between the groups. These results suggest that the great deal of high fibrous roughage intake in the first fattening stage causes the increased body weight, and that the high daily gain seems to be physiologically different from the daily gain caused by high concentrate feeding, since the high daily gain at this stage did not cause the insulin level to increase throughout the fattening stage or the suppression of daily gain in the latter stage.

View full abstract

Two feeding experiments were conducted to determine the effects of salinomycin (SL) on performance, and ruminal and blood characteristics in growing steers. Twenty two 3-month-old Holstein st10eers were fed on a concentrate diet and timothy hay (70: 30) for three months. In Exp. 1, steers were assigned into three groups, as follows; in Exp. 1: nonmedicated (control), and medicated with SL at 15ppm and 30 ppm (SL 15 and SL 30). Animals were fed individually by using electric feeding doors. In Exp. 2, the treatments were nonmedicated (control), and medicated with SL at 10ppm and 20ppm (SL 10 and SL 20), with 4 steers assigned to each treatment. The average daily gains (ADG) in steers of the SL 30 group tended to increase in comparison with the control (Exp. 1). The TDN intakes in all SL medicated groups tended to decrease by 4 to 6%, and the TDN conversions improved by 3 to 12%. There were no significant differences in ruminal pH or total VFA concentrations among treatments, but the molar percentages of acetate in rumen fluids decreased and propionate significantly increased via the SL medications in Exp. 1 (P<0.05). In Exp. 2, the VFA concentrations in the rumen showed similar changes to those of Exp. 1. The ruminal lactate concentrations tended to decline during the first month after SL feeding, then recover two or three months later. Ruminal NH3-N concentration in the SL 20 group was higher than that of the control throughout the experiment. No significant differences in blood metabolites among the groups were observed in the present experiment.

View full abstract

Heart rate (HR) and heat production (HP) were measured continuously using four Holstein heifers (285kg) to determine the effect of feed intake and behavior on the relationship between HR and HP. The effect of behavior on HP and its energy balance were examined under indoor (in stanchion) and outdoor (in paddock) conditions. Significant differences in the relationship between HR and HP within the animals and their behavior types were observed. The prediction error (Sy•x/y, %) of HP from HR could be reduced from ±9.4 to ±3.9% when using mean values measured every three hours using four heifers. ME intake, HP and energy retention were estimated from TDN intake, daily mean heart rate and average daily gain, respectively, which then used for evaluation of energy balance. It seems possible to evaluate the energy balance of growing heifers under free living conditions by measuring HR in addition to either ME intake or daily gain. In the evaluation of energy balance on free living animals, it is suggested that a control experiment should be done using housed animals which feed intake levels are controlled.

View full abstract

A hair-save and sulfide-save unhairing method using a pancreatic enzyme for pigskin leather was investigated in order to reduce the pollution load in unhairing liquors and the quantity of sulfide. This process consisted of (a) immunization of hair using an alkali treatment, (b) adjustment of pH value for an enzyme using ammonium chloride, (c) loosening of the hair roots by an enzyme, (d) unhairing, (e) recovery of the hair with a rotary screening machine. Unhairing liquors were recovered and recycled 5 times. The results obtained were as follows: 1) Hair was recovered in a fibrous shape and no residual hair was found. The quantity of both sodium sulfide and calcium hydroxide were cut about 50%. 2) Values of COD, SS, and total solids were reduced to about 30%, 47% and 21% respectively from soaking to washing before deliming, when compared to the conventional unhairing method. 3) Wetblue and leathers produced from this unhairing method had as good a quality as those produced from the conventional unhairing method.

View full abstract