This study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics of fattening single-calf heifers of Japanese Black.Four single-calf heifers (SH) and 3 adult none-calf heifers (AH) were fattened for 5 months. Six young heifers (YH) were engaged in the fattening course from 10-to 25-month old, and incorporated into this study for the last 5 months. Body weight, height and length, chest and trunk girths, shoulder, chest and thurl widths were measured monthly, and relative growth rates of body dimensions were compared among the 3 heifer groups using the growth coefficients of the 7 measured items to the body weight. In spite of smaller body weights, SH and AH obtained a larger body weight than YH by the end of the fattening period.Average daily gain during the fattening period was 1.33, 1.06 and 0.49kg, in SH, AH and YH, respectively. The body weight gain in SH and AH was associated with the growth of chest and trunk girths, shoulder, chest and thurl widths. On the other hand, the growth of chest and trunk girths and chest width was related to the body weight gain in YH. The growth of body height and length was very little and never contributed to body weight gain in all 3 groups. From these results, it is suggested that SH shows a remarkable growth based on the growth of body width, and could reach a marketable final body weight after only 5 months of fattening.

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The effect of β-glucan, a kind of extracellular water-soluble polysaccharide produced by the yeast-like fungus Aureobacidium pullulans ATCC 20524, on the growth of Lactobacillus deldrueckii subsp, bulgaricus B-5 b and the lactic acid fermentation in skim milk culture media was examined. It was found that β-glucan remarkably reduced the time for bacterial lag phase, stimulated the bacterial growth and promoted the lactic acid fermentation during logarithmic growth phase period in the skim milk culture media at 37°C. Above effect had positive relationship with increase in the amount of added β-glucan in skim milk culture media, and this effect got more striking in the presence of high amounts of β-glucan.

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In the present study, the effect of β-glucan produced extracellularly by the yeast-like fungus Aureobasidium pullulans ATCC 20524 on acid milk curd formation was investigated. This polysaccharide significantly increased the viscosity, hardness, breaking energy, and elastic modulus, and decreased the clotting time and syneresis of acid milk curd. The microstructure of acid milk curd suggested that this polysaccharide could interact with casein micelles, and the interaction between them formed a higher density of three dimensional network in the acid milk curd. This network was considered to improve the water-holding capacity of acid milk curd, give acid milk curd a thick body, and make the acid milk curd avoid fracture and wheying-off. There was also a positive relationship between these effects and the polysaccharide content in the acid milk curd.

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This study was performed to evaluate the beef production ability of single-calf heifers (SH), by comparing to those of adult none-calf heifers (AH) and young heifers (YH) in Japanese Black cattle. SH and AH were fattened from 32 and 30 age of month for 5 months, respectively, and YH was fattened from 10 to 25 age of month. Although SH and All had a larger pre-slaughter body weight than YH (P<0.05), there were no differences in carcass weight and dressing percentage among the groups. No significant differences were also observed in the other carcass yield traits (rib eye area, rib thickness, backfat thickness and cutability) and the quality traits (marbling, beef color, fat color and firmness) among the groups. From these results, it is suggested that SH would be able to produce the almost same size of carcasses and meat quality as YH in Japanese Black cattle.

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To determine the effect of nutritional manipulation on nitrogen and phosphorus excretion from pigs, four growing pigs with 40kg body weight were fed four diets with two levels of crude protein (CP) and two levels of total phosphorus (TP) ; the N+IP diet with CP 12 % and TP0.63 % supplemented with amino acids according to ideal protein, the PHY+IP diet with CP12 % and TP 0.56 % supplemented with amino acids and phytase, the N+HP diet with CP 15% and TP 0.77%, tthe PHY+HP diet with CP 15% and TP 0.64% supplemented with phytase. The rate of phytase supplemented was 250U/kg. Nitrogen and phosphorus excretion from pigs, growth rate and feed intake were investigated. The metabolism test was carried out as a Youden squares (4×2) design.
The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1) Nitrogen excretion from pigs fed the N+IP and PHY+IP diets with low CF according to ideal protein decreased by 27.8% compared with N+HP and PHY+HP diets with high CF level (P<0.01) . 2) Phosphorus excretion from pigs fed the PHY+IP and PHY+HP diets supplemented with phytase decreased by 23.5 % compared with N+IP and N+HP diets without phytase (P<0.01) . 3) The digestibilities of TP, calcium and magnesium increased in the PHY+IP and PHY+HP diets supplemented with phytase, but those of components in the proximate analysis did not change. 4) The diets with low CP level supplemented with amino acids and the diets with lower TP supplemented with phytase did not have an influence on growth rate and feed intake. These results show that these nutritional techniques are effective to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus excretion from pigs.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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