Quantitative trait loci underlying milk production traits in sheep

Improvement of milk production traits in dairy sheep is required to increase the competitiveness of the industry and to maintain the production of high quality cheese in regions of Mediterranean countries with less favourable conditions. Additional improvement over classical selection could be reached if genes with significant effects on the relevant traits were specifically targeted by selection. However, so far, few studies have been undertaken to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) in dairy sheep. In this study, we present a complete genome scan performed in a commercial population of Spanish Churra sheep to identify chromosomal regions associated with phenotypic variation observed in milk production traits. Eleven half-sib families, including a total of 1213 ewes, were analysed following a daughter design. Genome-wise multi-marker regression analysis revealed a genome-wise significant QTL for milk protein percentage on chromosome 3. Eight other regions, localized on chromosomes 1, 2, 20, 23 and 25, showed suggestive significant linkage associations with some of the analysed traits. To our knowledge, this study represents the first complete genome scan for milk production traits reported in dairy sheep. The experiment described here shows that analysis of commercial dairy sheep populations has the potential to increase our understanding of the genetic determinants of complex production-related traits.