Current Situation and Future Prospects for Beef Production in South Korea — a Review
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Open Access Asian-Australas J Anim Sci Vol. 31, No. 7:951-960 July 2018 https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.18.0187 pISSN 1011-2367 eISSN 1976-5517 Current situation and future prospects for beef production in South Korea — A review Ki Yong Chung1,a,*, Seung Hwan Lee2,a, Soo Hyun Cho3, Eung Gi Kwon1, and Jun Heon Lee2 * Corresponding Author: Ki Yong Chung Abstract: Hanwoo cattle are an important food source in Korea and their supply can have Tel: +82-33-330-0613, Fax: +82-33-330-0660, E-mail: [email protected] a major impact on meat availability for Korean consumers. The Hanwoo population was 1.8 million head in 2005 and gradually increased to 2.6 million in 2015. Per capita beef consump 1 Hanwoo Research Institute, National Institute of tion has also increased, to 11.6 kg per year in 2015, and is expected to continue to increase. Animal Science, RDA, Pyeongchang 25340, Korea 2 Division of Animal & Daily Science, Chungnam Because intramuscular fat percentage is a critical contributor to meat quality, Hanwoo cattle National University, Daejeon 34148, Korea are fed a highenergy cornbased diet for long fattening periods. Long fed diet causes signifi 3 Division of Animal Production, National Institute of cant alterations in fat percentage in the loin muscle and other areas of the carcass. However, Animal Science, RDA, Wanju 55365, Korea these long feeding periods increase feeding costs and beef prices. Recently, there has been a These authors contributed equally to this work. increased Korean consumer demand for lean beef which has less fat, but is tender and priced more reasonably. These consumer demands on the Korean beef industry are driving differing ORCID Ki Yong Chung beef production systems and also changes to the beef grading methodology. Korean govern https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0957-875X ment has made a significant investment to select bulls with favorable production traits using Seung Hwan Lee progeny testing. Progeny tested bull semen has been disseminated to all Hanwoo farmers. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1508-4887 Soo Hyun Cho A beef traceability system has been employed for all cattle breeds in Korea since 2009. Hanwoo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8073-8771 cattle are earmarked with a 12digit identification number from birth to slaughter. This num Eung Gi Kwon ber allows traceability of the management history of individual cattle, and also provides infor https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7894-7558 mation to consumers. Traceability including management information such as herd, farm, Jun Heon Lee https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3996-9209 year of birth, and carcass data can determine estimated breeding values of Hanwoo. For a sustainable Hanwoo industry, research scientists in Korea have attempted to develop feeds Submitted Mar 7, 2018; Revised Apr 10, 2018; for efficient fattening periods and precision feeding systems based on genetic information Accepted May 7, 2018 for Hanwoo cattle. These initiatives aim to Korean consumer demands for beef and provide more precision management in beef production in Korea. Keywords: Hanwoo; Carcass Grading System; Precision Management; Progeny Tested Bull INTRODUCTION The livestock industry accounts for almost 40% of total agricultural production in South Korea [1]. Moreover, beef production ranks second (30% of meat produced) among sources of meat production in South Korea (Figure 1). The number of South Korean households raising Hanwoo cattle has been decreasing for decades (Figure 2). According to the Hanwoo traceability system of the Korean Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation (KAPE), the number of Hanwoo cattle was 1.8 million in 2005, but had increased to 2.6 million in 2017. However, the number of households rearing Hanwoo cattle in 2010 was 172,000 and decreased to 84,000 in 2017. These trends have led to an increase in the number of Hanwoo per farmer (Table 1) with the average number of Hanwoo cattle per household being 29.6 in 2017 [1]. Moreover, there has been an increase in the amount of Hanwoo beef produced in largerscale feedlot systems that rear over 100 head [1]. Furthermore, the average con sumption of Hanwoo beef has increased from 6.7 to 11.5 kg per person during recent decades Copyright © 2018 by Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and repro- www.ajas.info duction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 951 13 328 Chung et al (2018) Asian-Australas J Anim Sci 31:951-960 329 14 Figure 1. Annual agricultural production of South Korea [1]. 330 Figure 1. Annual agricultural production of South Korea [1]. 35 35 331 Number of Hanwoo cattle Number of Hanwoo farms 332 30 30 Hanwoo cattle/farm 333 25 25 334 20 20 15 15 Hanwoo cattle/farm Hanwoo cattle (X100,000) cattle Hanwoo 10 10 5 5 0 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2016 Years 335 Figure 2. Changes in the population of Hanwoo cattle and number of Hanwoo farms and their size in South Korea [29]. 336 Figure 2. Changes in the population of Hanwoo cattle and number of Hanwoo farms and their size in South Korea (Figure337 3). The [29]Hanwoo. industry in South Korea has increased HISTORY OF HANWOO not only338 in cattle numbers, but also in the performance of the beef cattle. To better understand the Hanwoo industry in South Korean Hanwoo includes four breed types: brown, brindle, Korea, 339this review evaluates the development of breeding and black, and Jeju black [2]. Since 5000 years ago, Hanwoo has feeding systems for Hanwoo cattle. been a typical breed used for farming, transportation, and re 340 ligious sacrifice. During several wars, including World War 341 II and the Korean war, the population of Hanwoo shrank to Table 1. Number of farms and size of livestock populations by species [29] 0.4 million head [1]. However, farmers have gradually repur 342 posed the Hanwoo from draft animals to beef cattle since the Number Total size Size per farm Species of farms (1,000 heads, birds) (heads, birds) 1960s [2]. Recently, the population of Hanwoo has recovered to 2.6 million head. Beef cattle 94,360 2,676 28.4 The origin of Hanwoo (also known as northeast Asian cattle) Hanwoo 89,403 2,561 28.6 Dairy cattle 5,498 411 74.8 has been studied with regard to regional pathways of domes Pig 4,909 10,187 2,075 tication. Some researchers suggested that Hanwoo originated Chicken 3,004 164,131 54,637 from a cross between zebu and taurine cattle that migrated Duck 722 9,772 13,833 from Mongolia [3,4]. Another study indicated that Asian cattle 952 www.ajas.info 15 Chung et al (2018) Asian-Australas J Anim Sci 31:951-960 Total beef consumption Imported beef (1,000t) Beef consumption per person (kg) 343 Figure 3. Changes in344 consumption Figure of 3 beef. Changes in South in coKoreansumption [29]. of beef in South Korea [29]. 345 were of a hybrid taurineindicine origin [5]. A recent study progeny test. A performance test is a program of selecting 346 that analyzed cattle diversity demonstrated differentiation of candidate bulls based on their own growth performance (for Asian taurine from347 Western taurine cattle [2] using 50K SNP example, growth traits at 12 month of age) followed by a pro chip data to compare348 neighbouring phylogenetic trees based geny test using progeny carcass traits for the candidate bulls. on principal component analysis. This analysis included Afri The pedigree and phenotypic growth and carcass data from 349 can taurine, European taurine, Asian taurine, and zebu cattle. the performance and progeny test have been used to evaluate The Hanwoo tree was clearly separated from the European estimated breeding values (EBVs) using best linear unbiased taurine cattle breeds, and the result suggested a northeast cattle prediction method, and 20 bulls are selected annually to have breed with isolated domestication [6]. their semen distributed across the Hanwoo industry. The Research Development Administration (RDA) devel The annual genetic gain of Korean Proven Bull (KPN) se oped a method for the breeding of superior beef cattle and of lection to date from performance and progeny tests in the feeding for increased productivity of Hanwoo industry. After Hanwoo breeding program has been very successful. For ex implementation of the National Hanwoo Breeding System and ample annual genetic gain for carcass weight was 4.05 kg, eye the use of artificial insemination, the performance and car muscle area 1.58 cm2, marbling score 0.37, and back fat thick cass characteristics of Hanwoo cattle dramatically improved. ness (BFT) was 0.05, respectively [8]. However, there are still The average carcass weight of Hanwoo steers increased from some limitations in the Hanwoo breeding system. Firstly, the 343 kg in 2000 to 437 kg in 2016. The marbling score also im average generation interval for selection of a proven bull would proved from 3.6 in 2000 to 5.6 in 2016 [7]. Over recent decades, take at least 5.5 years, the period from birth to selection through Hanwoo as beef cattle have improved not only as a major meat performance and progeny tests. Secondly, the number of pro source, but also as a premium agricultural product in the live geny to be tested in the progeny testing program is relatively stock industry. Because of technical advancements in breeding small at 7 to 8 progeny for each of bull, hence the accuracy and feeding systems, the performance in terms of quality and of EBVs is limited to 70% in this Hanwoo breeding program.