Establishment of porcine fecal-derived microbial communities to evaluate the impact of livestock feed on gut microbiome.

Sustainable livestock production requires reducing competition for food and feed resources and increasing the utilization of food by-products in livestock feed. This study describes the establishment of an anaerobic batch culture model to simulate pig microbiota and evaluate the effects of a food by-product, wakame seaweed stalks, on microbial communities. We selected one of the nine media to support the growth of a bacterial community most similar in composition and diversity to that observed in pig donor feces.

Genome-wide detection of changes in allelic frequency in Landrace pigs selected for resistance to mycoplasma pneumonia of swine.

Closed-pig line breeding could change the genetic structure at a genome-wide scale because of the selection in a pig breeding population. We investigated the changes in population structure among generations at a genome-wide scale and the selected loci across the genome by comparing the observed and expected allele frequency changes in mycoplasma pneumonia of swine (MPS)-selected pigs. Eight hundred and seventy-four Landrace pigs, selected for MPS resistance without reducing average daily gain over five generations, had 37,299 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and were used for genomic analyses.

Exogenous gamma-aminobutyric acid addition enhances porcine sperm acrosome reaction.

The widely used porcine artificial insemination procedure involves the use of liquid-stored semen because it is difficult to control the quality of frozen-thawed porcine sperm. Therefore, there is a high demand for porcine semen. The control and enhancement of sperm function are required for the efficient reproduction of pigs.

Genome-wide association studies for production, respiratory disease, and immune-related traits in Landrace pigs.

Identification of a quantitative trait locus (QTL) related to a chronic respiratory disease such as Mycoplasmal pneumonia of swine (MPS) and immune-related traits is important for the genetic improvement of disease resistance in pigs. The objective of this study was to detect a novel QTL for a total of 22 production, respiratory disease, and immune-related traits in Landrace pigs. A total of 874 Landrace purebred pigs, which were selected based on MPS resistance, were genotyped using the Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip.

Characteristics and Possible Role of Bovine Sperm Head-to-Head Agglutination.

Although sperm head-to-head agglutination has been reported in many mammalian species, the biological significance of this unique sperm-sperm interaction remains largely unknown. Here, we aimed to examine the functional characteristics of agglutinated bovine sperm to determine the possible role of sperm agglutination in the fertilization process. We initially examined temporal changes to the degree of head-to-head agglutination in culture, and found that bovine sperm agglutinated despite the lack of sperm agglutination inducers in medium.