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Physiological Bases for Genetic Improvement in Dairy Cattle — Introductory Remarks

Agricultural Research, Science and Education Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD

ABSTRACT

To paraphrase a television commercial, "We've come a long way" in our genetic evaluation of dairy cattle. The application of quantitative genetic principles to records collected in the National Cooperative Dairy Herd Improvement Program has enabled the dairy industry to make substantial progress, particularly in the last 10 yr. The geneticists who developed the techniques that have enabled us to identify superior bulls and cows deserve the applause of everyone associated with the dairy industry and of the consuming public as well.

Scientists, particularly physiologists and biochemists, who spend an appreciable amount of their time looking at various body systems, usually are impressed by the diurnal variation in certain components in the blood and body fluids. Also of interest is the apparent genetic variation between animals in composition of their blood components, body variation between animals in composition of their blood components, body fluids and tissues. It really should not be surprising to us that these physiological and biochemical variations between individuals occur.