Relationships of Polymorphisms for Growth Hormone and Growth Hormone Receptor Genes with Milk Production Traits for Italian Holstein-Friesian Bulls

¹ Faculty of Agronomy 5030 Gembloux Belgium
² Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, Sezione di Fisiologia Veterinaria e Nutrizione, Università degli Studi di Udine, 33010 Pagnacco (Udine) Italy
³ Facultà di Medicina Veterinaria, Instituto di Zootecnia e Nutrizione Animale, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (Bologna), Italy

Allelic variation in the structural or regulatory sequences of growth hormone and its receptor genes might directly or indirectly affect milk traits. This possibility prompted us to investigate the eventual relationships of restriction fragment length polymorphisms at the locus of bovine growth hormone (using TagI and MspI restriction enzymes) and its receptor (using TaqI restriction enzyme) to PTA of milk production traits of bulls. Ninety-one Italian Holstein-Friesian bulls were used in this experiment, and data were analyzed with a fixed linear model. The restriction fragment length polymorphisms at the growth hormone locus did not affect the milk traits studied. Six restriction enzyme TaqI bands of 7.1, 6.2, 5.7, 5.4, 4.2, and 3.3 kb with nine patterns were observed after hybridization by a cDNA probe containing the coding sequences for the intracellular C-terminal part of the receptor. The effect of this polymorphism on PTA for milk protein percentage was highly significant and was favorable for the rare (6.6%) 5.7- and 5.4-kb pattern. Our results indicate that further study is needed to explain the DNA polymorphism and to obtain more definite conclusions about effects on milk traits.

Key Words: milk traits • growth hormone • growth hormone receptor • restriction fragment length polymorphism

Submitted on October 3, 1995
Accepted on April 17, 1996

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