1. M. iliotibialis (MIT) and M. pectoralis (MP) of the BUT Big 6 and Kelly BBB turkey were characterised with respect to physical properties, mitochondrial function, metabolic state, morphology and meat quality. 2. Mitochondrial enzyme activity and respiration rates in MP declined with increasing age while glycolytic enzyme activity remained nearly constant. 3. There were no major differences between BUT Big 6 and Kelly BBB with respect to histological, histochemical or biochemical variables. In spite of the greater adult weight of BUT Big 6, body proportion was equal in both strains. 4. In agreement with the histochemical findings MIT showed higher oxidative capacities, while glycolytic enzyme activity was higher in MP. 5. Pyruvate was the best substrate for oxidative phosphorylation in MIT, but not in MP. Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity was up to 15 times less in MP and blood lactate was correlated with intramuscular pH. 6. Turkey breast muscle was restricted in its ability to oxidise pyruvate, especially in those animals that tended to develop intramuscular acidosis post mortem. 7. It is concluded that the in vivo metabolic environment results in acidosis and impaired meat quality, at least in turkey M. pectoralis.
Topics automatically derived by topic models are not always easy and clearly interpretable by humans. The most probable top words of a topic may leave room for ambiguous interpretations, especially when the top words are exclusively nouns. We demonstrate how part-of-speech (POS) tagging and co-location analysis of terms can be used to derive linguistic frames that yield more interpretable topic representations. The so-called topic frames are demonstrated as feature of the TopicExplorer system that allows to explore document collections using topic models, visualizations and key word search. Demo versions of TopicExplorer are available at
The objective of the study was to evaluate behavioral observation procedures and tests to characterize sows’ behavior for their suitability for free farrowing systems. Nest building activity (NB), lying-down behavior (LDB), and position after lying down (PLD) were assessed. Four tests were designed to characterize the reaction of sows to a novel object and an unexpected situation (Towel Test, TT), behavior towards humans (Dummy Arm Test, DAT; Trough Cleaning Test, TCT), and behavior towards piglets (Reunion Test, RT). The study was performed on a nucleus farm in 37 batches including 771 purebred landrace sows housed in farrowing pens with short-term fixation. The assessment of NB started 2 days before the expected date of the farrowing. In 56.2% of the observations, the sows showed increased chewing activity on gunnysacks. The LDB and PLD were assessed on days 3 and 19 post partum (p.p.). In 49.1% of the observations, sows showed careful lying-down behavior. In 50.1% of cases, sows preferred the stomach-teats-position when lying down. With the DAT on day 4 p.p., in 89.3% of observations, no or only slight reactions of the sow were documented. The TT and TCT were performed on days 3 and 10 p.p. Strong defensive reactions of animals towards humans were recorded in 4.5% of the observations in the TT, and in 4.0% of the observations in the TCT. In the RT on day 3 p.p., in 61.8%, a joyful response of the sows to the reunion with their piglets was observed. This study showed that the behavioral observation procedures and designed tests are suitable to characterize sows’ behavior towards humans and piglets with regard to traits that are particularly important in systems without fixation.
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