This study aimed to determine the trend in dry matter yield (DMY) of a new sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (SSH) in the central inland regions of Korea. The metadata (n=388) were collected from various reports of the experiments examining the adaptability of this new variety conducted by the Rural Development Administration (1988–2013). To determine the trend, the parameters of autoregressive (AR) and moving average (MA) were estimated from correlogram of Autocorrelation function (ACF) and partial ACF (PACF) using time series modeling. The results showed that the trend increased slightly year by year. Furthermore, ARIMA (1, 1, 0) was found to be the optimal model to describe the historical trend. This means that the trend in the DMY of the SSH was associated with changes over the past two years but not with changes from three years ago. Although climatic variables, such as temperature, precipitation, and sunshine were also considered as environmental factors for the annual trends, no clear association was observed between DMY and climates. Therefore, more precise processing and detailed definition of climate considering specific growth stages are required to validate this association. In particular, research on the impact of heavy rainfall and typhoons, which are expected to cause damage in the short term, on DMY trends is ongoing, and the model confirmed in this study is expected to play an important role in studying this aspect. Furthermore, we plan to add the environmental factors such as soil and cultivation management as well as climate to our future studies.
In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of thermal-humidity exposure (THE) and water deprivation on the immune response, and hair and plasma mineral profiles of lactating Holstein cows. Thirty multiparous lactating Holstein cows were divided into two groups of 15 cows each: a treatment (T) group subjected to THE and water deprivation for 2 h following feeding, and a control (C) group subjected to THE but with free access to water. Higher levels of sodium (Na), potassium (K), and copper (Cu) in hair were observed in the C group, whereas higher levels of magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), and iron (Fe) in hair were observed in the PC group compared to the other groups. In plasma, mineral contents did not differ between the C and T groups. Additionally, water deprivation during THE decreased hair Mg content. Neutrophil levels and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios were higher in the T group than in the C group at day 50, but did not differ between the two groups at day 60. Overall, the combination of THE with water deprivation for 2 h altered the hair mineral content, and decreased the immune response, in high-yielding lactating cows.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritive value of polished rice (PR) vs unpolished rice (UPR) as a potential feedstuff for sheep in order to use as a replacer to corn in sheep diet, and as well as to present the application in the formulation of cattle diet. Six corriedale ewe were randomly assigned to each treatment. UPR and PR were provided as a dietary treatment together with timothy grass as a basal diet in a crossover design for two period with 15-d duration for each period. The ratio of experimental and basal feeds were 33.3% and 66.7%, respectively. The differences in the total digestible nutrient (TDN) contents between sheep and cattle was determined according to the references. The number of data collected sheep and cattle was 9 and 17, respectively. The PR showed higher nutrients digestibility than UPR. Similarly, higher TDN content was observed PR than UPR (p < 0.05). As a result, the replacement of corn in the formulate feed with UPR and PR feed rice could be possible with the ratio of 91.2% and 100.0%, respectively. The result of comparation the TDN contents of UPR and PR in sheep and cattle, the PR has no difference in the nutritive value which suggests the applicability of the results of sheep to cattle. On the other hand, UPR has known to have different nutritive value between sheep and cattle, so caution should be taken when preparing formula feeds for cattle.
Despite the gradual increase in livestock feed demands, the supply faces enormous challenges due to extreme climatic conditions. As the presence of these climatic condition has the potential to affect the yield of sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (SSH), understanding the yield variation in relation to the climatic conditions provides the ability to come up with proper mitigation strategies. This study was designed to detect the effect of climatic factors on the long-term dry matter yield (DMY) trend of SSH using time series analysis in the Republic of Korea. The collected data consisted of DMY, seeding-harvesting dates, the location where the cultivation took place, cultivars, and climatic factors related to cultivation of SSH. Based on the assumption of normality, the final data set (n = 420) was generated after outliers had been removed using Box-plot analysis. To evaluate the seasonality of DMY, an augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test and a correlogram of Autocorrelation Function (ACF) were used. Prior to detecting the effect of climatic factors on the DMY trend, the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was fitted to non-seasonal DMY series, and ARIMA (2, 1, 1) was found to be the optimal model to describe the long-term DMY trend of SSH. ARIMA with climatic factors (ARIMAX) detected significance (p < 0.05) of Seeding-Harvesting Precipitation Amount (SHPA) and Seeding-Harvesting Accumulated Temperature (SHAMT) on DMY trend. This does not mean that the average temperature and duration of exposure to sunshine do not affect the growth and development of SSH. The result underlines the impact of the precipitation model as a major factor for the seasonality of long-term DMY of SSH in the Republic of Korea.
Abstract Body temperature responses and hair cortisol levels in dairy Holstein cows fed high- and low-forage diet and under water deprivation during thermal-humidity exposure (THE) were evaluated. Two experiments (Exps.) were conducted between July and September 2012 and 2013 for 64 d and 74 d, respectively. First, twenty dairy Holstein cows (90±30 DIM; 37.2±1.7 l milk/d, 620±75 kg BW) were used. The practical forage:concentrate (F:C) ratios in the low forage (LF) and high forage (HF) group were 44:56 and 56:44, respectively, while they were designed to be 40:60 and 60:40. Second, thirty dairy cows (53.5±30.4 DIM; 41.7±1.5 l milk/d,650±53 kg BW) were allotted into two groups of free access to water (FAW) and 2 h water deprivation (2hWD) following feeding. The animals were subjected to having the hair cut (1 to 2 g) from their foreheads at the same time (12:00 h) twice at the beginning (prior to the beginning of heat stress) and the end of the experiment when the cows were under THE. Hair cortisol levels (initial hair cut as the baseline and re-grown hair) were measured using ELISA method. Body temperature (BT) was measured twice daily at 7 body points of cows including rectum, vagina, hip, udder, rumen-side (flank), ear, and forehead using non-contact forehead infrared thermometer (infrared gun having two modes: inner and skin) on the 7 d of the beginning and the last 7 d of the experiment at 1000 and 1400 h. Statistical analyses were carried out using the MIXED model of SAS as repeated measurements. The intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variations for hair cortisol measurements were 3.15 and 10.05, respectively. Hair cortisol (HC) levels were not different within the two groups in both Exps. (P>0.05); however, HC level was lower (P<0.0001) prior to temperature-humidity exposure (THE). Results of Exp. 1 showed that vagina inner temperature was higher (P=0.041) and rectal temperature tended to be higher (P=0.083) in the HF compared to the LF group. The inner ear temperature was lower and ear skin temperature was higher (P=0.032) in the HF compared to the LF group. Forehead inner temperature was higher (P=0.048) in the LF group than in the HF group while forehead skin temperature was lower in the HF group (P=0.041). No differences were observed in the hip, udder and rumen-side (flank) temperature (both in body and skin) between the HF and LF group (P=0.012). In Exp. 2, no temperature differences were observed at all of the body points, inner and skin, between the two groups (P>0.05). However, the skin temperature in the 2hWD groups tended to be higher than in the FAW group (P=0.093). Conclusions drawn indicate the beneficial use of measuring BT at different body points of the cow in addition to RT under THE.
This study carried out in Holstein dairy cows between July and September 2013 for 74 days, when the temperature-humidity (THE) index indicates heat stress conditions. To investigate the effects of water deprivation and THE on prolonged stress indicator (hair cortisol) and body temperature responses in dairy cows hair cortisol (HC) levels and body temperature at different body sites were evaluated. Thirty dairy cows (53.5 ± 30.4 days in milk; DIM; 650 ± 53 kg BW) were allotted into two groups of free access to water (FAW; 15 cows) and 2 hours water deprivation (2hWD; 15 cows) following feeding. The animals were subjected to having the hair cut (1 to 2 gram) from their foreheads at the same time (12:00 h) twice at the beginning (prior to the beginning of heat stress) and the end of the experiment when the cows were under THE (Highest temperature and humidity of 38 ?C and 91%, and lowest ones of 22 ?C and 65%). Hair cortisol levels (initial hair cut as the baseline and re-grown hair) were measured using ELISA method. Body temperature (BT) was measured twice daily at 7 body points of cows including rectum, vagina, hip, udder, rumen-side (flank), ear, and forehead using non-contact forehead infrared thermometer (infrared gun having two modes; inner and skin; CEM, Rev. 090709, Shenzhen Everest Machinery Industry co.Ltd., China, the sensitivity of 0.01) on the 7 d of the beginning and the last 7 d of the experiment at 10:00 and 14:00 h. Statistical analyses carried out using the MIXED model of SAS as a repeated measurements. The intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variations for hair cortisol measurements were 3.15 and 10.05, respectively. The HC levels were not different (p > 0.05) between the two groups; however, HC level was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) in post heat stress conditions than prior to. No temperature differences were observed in all of the body points, inner and skin, between the two groups (p > 0.05). However, there was a tendency of higher skin temperature in the 2hWD groups than in the FAW group (p = 0.093). Conclusions drawn indicate water deprivation following feeding for 2 hours is not influential enough to increase hair cortisol as the prolonged indicator of stress conditions in dairy cows; however, heat stress conditions act as a strong stressor by increasing hair cortisol levels in both groups compared with thermo-neutral zone conditions.