Associations between milk protein genetic variants and production traits in New Zealand dairy cattle


A.M. Winkelman and B.W. Wickham

Livestock Improvement Corporation, Private Bag 3016, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, 1996, 56: 24-27

Records on 7574 first lactation cows were used to investigate the associations between milk protein genetic variants and 305-day milk, fat, and protein yields. Friesians, Jerseys and Ayrshires and their crosses were represented in the data. Milk samples were typed for 3 casein (CN) proteins as1-CN (B,C), b-CN (A1, A2), k-CN (A,B) and 1 whey protein b- lactoglobulin (LG) (A,B). The model used to describe the data included the additive genetic effect of animal and the four protein phenotypes.

The interaction between breed and as1-CN phenotype and between breed and b-CN phenotype was significant (P<0.05) for milk, fat and protein yields while the interaction between breed and k-CN phenotype was significant (P<0.05) only for protein yield. The interactions associated with the as1-CN and k-CN phenotypes were scale effects while the interactions associated with b-CN resulted from reranking of protein phenotype across the breeds. Friesian and Jersey as1-CN BB cows had higher (2.8% and 0.8%, respectively) milk production and lower (0.3% and 1.2%, respectively) protein production than BC animals while the differences between the phenotypes for fat production were small. The b-CN A2 allele was associated with increased production in the Friesians with A2A2 cows producing approximately 2% more milk, fat and protein than A1A1 cows. The opposite effect was found in Jerseys where A2A2 cows produced 3-4% less milk, fat, and protein than A1A1 cows. The B allele of k-CN was associated with a 0.6 to 3.5% increase in production. The b-LG BB phenotypes produced approximately 1.3% less milk and protein and 1.2% more fat than the AA phenotypes. The dominance effect was not significant (P<0.05) for any of the protein phenotypes.

Keywords: NZSAPAB; milk protein polymorphism; production traits.


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Last Updated 18-03-1997