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Association Between a Polymorphism at the Stearoyl CoA Desaturase Locus and Milk Production Traits in Italian Holsteins

N. P. P. Macciotta^*,1, M. Mele, G. Conte, A. Serra, M. Cassandro, R. Dal Zotto, A. Cappio Borlino^*, G. Pagnacco and P. Secchiari

^* Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche, Università di Sassari, Via de Nicola 9, 07100, Sassari, Italy
Dipartimento di Agronomia e Gestione dell’Agroecosistema, Università di Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, Università di Padova, Viale dell’Università 16 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Veterinarie per la Sicurezza Alimentare, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy

¹ Corresponding author: macciott{at}uniss.it

Associations between stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) gene polymorphisms and milk production traits (milk, fat, and protein yields, fat and protein contents, somatic cell score) were investigated on a sample of 701 lactations of 313 Italian Holsteins. Test-day records (5,097) were analyzed with a mixed linear model that included the fixed effects of herd, date of test, parity, genotype at the SCD locus, and lactation interval nested within SCD genotype, and the random effect of cow. An effect of the SCD genotype on milk and protein yields was detected, with VV cows producing more milk (about 2 kg/d) and protein (about 0.07 kg/d) compared with AA cows. The contribution of the SCD locus to the phenotypic variance of the 2 traits was about 0.015. These results suggest a possible use of the SCD locus in gene-assisted selection programs for the improvement of milk production traits in dairy cattle, although large-scale studies in different breeds are required.

Key Words: dairy cattle • stearoyl-CoA locus • polymorphism • milk production trait

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