Lack of association of bovine MHC class I alleles with carcass and reproductive traits |
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| Authors: | M A Arriëns A Hofer G Obexer-Ruff S Lazary |
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| Institution: | Institute of Animal Breeding, Department of Immunogenetics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland;Institute of Animal Sciences, Animal Breeding, CLU, Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), 8092 Zürich, Switzerland |
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| Abstract: | The present study was carried out to examine whether a relationship between bovine major histocompatibility complex (BoLA) class I alleles and carcass traits or reproductive performance exists in Braunvieh and Fleckvieh A1 (artificial insemination) bulls. The influence of BoLA class I (BOLA-A) alleles on deregressed breeding values for net growth rate, carcass index and thigh volume was assessed in Braunvieh crosses and Fleckvieh bulls with a gene substitution model. The reproductive traits: non-return rate and interval between first and last insemination of daughters (female fertility), as well as non-return rate of inseminated cows (male fertility), were only investigated in Fleckvieh animals. No influence of the BOLA-A region on the traits evaluated could be demonstrated. An improper, i.e. less restrictive analysis would have led to spurious results. |
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| Keywords: | BOLA-A alleles carcass performance gene substitution reproduction traits |
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