Biography
Dr. Jang has joined the faculty of the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia since 2023. Dr. Jang is a swine nutritionist who received his B.S. in 2005 and Ph.D. in 2012 in swine nutrition from the Seoul National University in South Korea. His research in graduate school focused on nutrient utilization, alternative feed ingredient evaluation, and feed additive evaluation for young piglets, growing-finishing pigs, and sows. After his graduate school, he worked at the University of Kentucky as a postdoctoral scholar from 2012 to 2017, and during his postdoc period, he focused on vitamin and mineral nutrition, feed additive evaluation, and growth and development in pigs. In 2017, Dr. Jang joined the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls as an assistant professor of monogastric nutrition from 2017 to 2023, where he mainly taught animal nutrition and swine production courses before joining the University of Georgia.
Dr. Jang has been working on a variety of research projects regarding feed additive evaluation, such as probiotics, sodium butyrate, iron-binding peptides, etc., to improve immunity and gut health in pigs and evaluating alternative feed ingredients in swine diets. Some of his research achievements involve fat-soluble vitamins, specifically vitamin A, D, and E, for newborn, weaning, and growing-finishing pigs; non-starch polysaccharide degrading enzymes and phytase for pigs and sows; and minerals such as iron, selenium, copper, calcium, and phosphorus. His primary research interest is in amino acid, vitamin, and mineral nutrition for sows and piglets, including reproduction, immunity, and gut health, along with feed additives that can be beneficial for pigs and sows.
Description of Research Interests
Weaning is one of the most stressful events in a pig’s life, and weaning pigs are susceptible to postweaning diarrhea, disease infection, and growth retardation due to weaning stress and an immature digestive and immune system. In an effort to reduce the use of antibiotics and zinc oxide, there have been various types of feed additives and nutrients that can improve gut health, immunity, nutrient utilization, etc. for pigs. However, appropriate investigation to demonstrate their efficacy is necessary for producers and industry to properly utilize these feed additives and nutrients (such as trace minerals and vitamins) in swine diets and maximize their effectiveness. Therefore, my research interest is in demonstrating the effect of dietary supplementation of various feed additives and nutrients in weaning pigs to improve postweaning growth, gut health, and the immune system and reduce postweaning diarrhea.
Reproductive performance is a key to swine farm productivity. However, increasing litter size in sows via genetic improvements resulted in a lower piglet birth weight that could increase pre-weaning mortality. Also, as milk is a sole source of nutrients for suckling piglets, the quality and quantity of colostrum and milk are critically important to enhance piglet growth rate during lactation and reduce pre-weaning mortality. Therefore, my research focuses on understanding differences in growth and development depending on birth and weaning weight and finding nutritional strategies to improve reproductive performance, milk quality, birth and weaning weight, and the survival rate of piglets.
Courses Taught
ADSC 3610 – Pork Production and Management
ADSC 8350 – Carbohydrates and Lipids in Animal Nutrition
Selected Recent Publications
Duddeck, K. A., T. E. Petersen, H. J. Adkins, A. H. Smith, S. Hernandez, S. J. Wenner, D. Yao, C. Chen, W. Li, P. Fregulia, A. Larsen, and Y. D. Jang. 2024. Dose-dependent effects of supplementing a two-strain Bacillus subtilis probiotic on growth performance, blood parameters, fecal metabolites, and microbiome in nursery pigs. Animals. 14:109. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010109
Ding Wang, Young Dal Jang, Marlee Kelley, Gregg K. Rentfrow, Michael J. Azain, and Merlin D. Lindemann. 2023. Effects of multiple vitamin E levels and two fat sources in diets for swine fed to heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: I. Growth performance, lean growth, organ size, carcass characteristics, primal cuts, and pork quality. Transl. Anim. Sci. txad086. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txad086
Ding Wang, Young Dal Jang, Marlee Kelley, Gregg K. Rentfrow, Michael J. Azain, and Merlin D. Lindemann. 2023. Effects of multiple vitamin E levels and two fat sources in diets for swine fed to heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: II. Tissue fatty acid profile, vitamin E concentrations, immune capacity and antioxidant capacity of plasma and tissue. Transl. Anim. Sci. txad087. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txad087
Albers, S. E., E. A. Pintens, P. K. Isensee, C. M. Lemanski, and Y. D. Jang. 2022. Effect of additional iron injection to suckling pigs on hematocrit level during the suckling period. Animals. 12:2980. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12212980
Ding Wang, Young Dal Jang, Gregg K. Rentfrow, Michael J. Azain, and Merlin D. Lindemann. 2022. Effects of dietary vitamin E and fat supplementation in growing-finishing swine fed to a heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: I. Growth performance, lean growth, organ size, carcass characteristics, primal cuts, and pork quality. J. Anim. Sci. 100:skac081. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac081
Ding Wang, Young Dal Jang, Gregg K. Rentfrow, Michael J. Azain, and Merlin D. Lindemann. 2022. Effects of dietary vitamin E and fat supplementation in growing-finishing swine fed to a heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: II. Tissue fatty acid profile, vitamin E concentrations and antioxidant capacity of plasma and tissue. J. Anim. Sci. 100(6):skac184. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac184
Talukder, J., C. F. Mclnerney, K. L. Nelson, B. C. Close, A. K. Srivastava and Y. D. Jang. 2022. Effect of iron-binding polypeptides and non-starch polysaccharides supplementation on growth performance and fecal scores of weaning pigs. Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Pec. 35:233-242. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.rccp.v35n4a3
Jang, J. C., D. H. Kim, Y. D. Jang, and Y. Y. Kim. 2021. Amino acid digestibility in diets containing copra meal with β-mannanase fed to growing pigs. Anim. Biosci. 34:1974-1980. https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.21.0019
Elefson, S. K., N. Lu, T. Chevalier, S. Dierking, D. Wang, H. J. Monegue, J. C. Matthews, Y. D. Jang, J. Chen, G. K. Rentfrow, S. A. Adedokun, and M. D. Lindemann. 2021. Assessment of visceral organ growth in pigs from birth through 150 kg. J. Anim. Sci. 99: skab249. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab249
Jang, Y. D., M. J. Rotering, P. K. Isensee, K. A. Rinholen, C. J. Boston-Denton, P. G. Kelley, and R. L. Stuart. 2020. Distribution of injected fat-soluble vitamins in plasma and tissues of nursery pigs. Asian-Australas. J. Anim. Sci. 33:1985-1990. https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.19.0987
Isensee, P. K., S. E. Albers, L. G. Wichman, A. L. Thoma, and Y. D. Jang. 2020. The effect of creep feed and diet complexity on growth performance in suckling and weaned pigs. Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Pec. 33(3): 159-171. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.rccp.v33n3a04
Jang, J. C., D. H. Kim, J. S. Hong, Y. D. Jang, and Y. Y. Kim. 2020. Effects of copra meal inclusion level in growing-finishing pig diets containing β-mannanase on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility, blood urea nitrogen concentrations and pork quality. Animals. 10 (10): 1840. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101840
Jang, J. C., K. H. Kim, Y. D. Jang, and Y. Y. Kim. 2020. Effects of dietary β-mannanase supplementation on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility, intestinal integrity, and immune responses in weaning pigs. Animals. 10 (4): 703. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040703
Jang, Y. D., J. Y. Ma, N. Lu, J. Lim, H. J. Monegue, R. L. Stuart, and M. D. Lindemann. 2018. Administration of vitamin D3 by injection or drinking water alters serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations of nursery pigs. Asian-Australas. J. Anim. Sci. 31:278-286. https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.17.0397