Earticle

The long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus) is classified as 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and has been designated an endangered species requiring conservation and management in Korea. The sex determination region of the Y (SRY) gene is a useful marker for the study of paternal lineages; however, the SRY gene of the goral has not yet been sequenced. In this study, the nucleotide sequence of the SRY gene of long-tailed gorals was determined based on the sequence of the SRY gene of goats (Capra hircus). The obtained sequences were aligned with those of other species in the Bovidae family. The long-tailed goral SRY gene comprised 720 base pairs, and its nucleotide and protein sequences were identical to those of goats, sheep (Ovis aries), and cattle (Bos taurus) by 96%, 97%, and 93%, respectively. The results of phylogenetic insights obtained from this study constitute important references for genetic diversity and pedigrees studies of male long-tailed gorals and closely related species.

This study was designed to evaluate the objective meat qualities of Hanwoo longissimus lumborum muscle after a period of long-term storage (40 days) in which conditions similar to those under which the meat would be stored for export to the Hong Kong beef market were simulated. Twelve LL muscles were sampled from animals slaughtered the previous day at a commercial beef export abattoir and assigned to one of three groups. Each group was subjected to a different packaging condition; Shrink film packed (SFP), vacuum packed (VP), or modified atmosphere packed (MAP)(O2/60%, CO2/40%). Objective meat qualities were assessed at day 1, 7, 21 and 40 of storage. Different Packaging conditions had no noticeable influence on cooking loss significantly. However, the moisture content in both the SFP and MAP groups tended to decline in a linear manner with storage periods throughout the 40 days period. Drip loss of MAP (5.68%) group was much higher in the SFP (3.18%) and VP (2.64%) groups at storage day 40. Redness (CIE a*) of meat color responded in a significant and completely different manner to each packaging method. Redness significantly (p<0.05) and continuously increased 17.51 at day 1 to 20.41 at day 40 in VP group, while MAP linearly dropped and ultimately reached 10.6 after 40 days of aging (p<0.05), at which point the meat had a brown color. Tests of Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) indicated that the tenderness levels of the ready-for-export Hanwoo LL muscles were acceptable 7 days postmortem in the SFP and VP groups, however there was no significant difference between each group. Our gathered data suggests that the packaging method selected for export determines how well the objective qualities of the beef hold up, and indicate that VP is likely the most reliable method.

This study monitored temperature using electronic sensors and developed a prediction model for compost maturity. The experiment used swine manure in a mechanical composting facility equipped with a screw-type agitator, and the composting process was conducted for 60 d during the summer season in South Korea. Four electronic temperature sensors were installed on the inner wall between the compost piles on Days 7, 14, 21, and 28 for daily temperature monitoring. Compost samples were collected daily for 60 d, and compost maturity was analyzed using the Solvita method. Multiple comparisons, correlations, and modeling were performed using the stat package in R software. The average compost pile temperatures was 39.1±3.9, 36.4±4.3, 31.3±4.5, and 35.4±8.1 on days 7, 14, 21, and 28, respectively, after composting. The average compost maturity according to the composting date was 3.61±0.60, 4.13±0.59, 4.26±0.47, and 4.32 ±0.56 on days 7, 14, 21, and 28, respectively. A significant negative correlation was observed between the compost composting periods (seven, 14, 21, and 28 d) and the temperature of all compost piles (p<0.05), where the correlation coefficients were -0.329, -0.382, -0.507, and -0.634, respectively. A significant positive correlation was observed between the compost composting periods (seven, 14, 21, and 28 d) and the maturity of the compost (p<0.05), where the correlation coefficients were 0.410, 0.550, 0.727, and 0.840, respectively. The model for predicting the maturation of the 14 d average compost pile according to the compost composting period and the average temperature for 14 d was y=0.026 x d – 0.021 x mt.x_14 d (mean temperature for 14 d) + 4.336 (R2=0.7612, p<0.001). This study can be considered a basic reference for predicting compost maturity by the proposed model using electronic temperature sensors.