About the Authors

Xiang Z. Li

Contributed equally to this work with: Xiang Z. Li, Byung K. Park

Affiliation Department of Animal Science, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, 133002, P. R. China

Byung K. Park

Contributed equally to this work with: Xiang Z. Li, Byung K. Park

Affiliation Feed Research Institute, Nonghyup Feed Co. Ltd, Seoul, 134–763, Republic of Korea

Jong S. Shin

Affiliation Department of Animal Life Science, Kangwon National University, Chunchoen, 200–701, Republic of Korea

Seong H. Choi

Affiliation Department of Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 361–763, Korea

Stephen B. Smith

Affiliation Department of Animal Science, Texas A & M University, College Station, 77843–2471, United States of America

Chang G. Yan

ycg@ybu.edu.cn

Affiliation Department of Animal Science, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, 133002, P. R. China

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: Co-author Byung K. Park is employed by Nonghyup Feed Co. Ltd. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: XZL CGY. Performed the experiments: XZL BKP. Analyzed the data: XZL BKP JSS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SHC SBS. Wrote the paper: XZL BKP JSS.