Study on candidate genes for milk production traits of Red Chittagong Cattle

The study was carried out on Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD,) diacylglycerolacyltransferase-1 (DGAT1) and ATP-binding cassette G2 (ABCG2) genes which are responsible for variation in milk production traits (milk yield, fat yield, protein yield, and SNF yield) in cattle. These genes were used as candidate genes in Red Chittagong Cattle (RCC) breed of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) herd for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) causing variation in milk production traits. Focusing on the effects of SNPs on milk production traits, phenotypic variation within RCC breed was identified and categorized based on milk production traits. Average lactation yield varied from 527 to 1436 kg (n=29) per lactation. About 18% of lactating cows showed an average of &gt;1000 kg per lactation. Average fat percent ranged from 4.71 to 6.25 (n=15). Eighteen (18) set of primers were designed to amplify targeted regions of SCD, DGAT1 and ABCG2 genes, where 8 set from DGAT1, 6 set from SCD and 4 set from ABCG2 gene. Pooled DNA from 50 RCC cows and 5 RCC bulls were used in sequencing. In sequence analysis, the SCD, DGAT1 and ABCG2 alleles found fixed in RCC. This study suggests an evidence that RCC breed has fixed alleles with respect to SCD, DGAT1 and ABCG2 genes reported to be responsible for higher milk fat yield, higher fat and protein percent.&#x0D; Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 26 (1&amp;2), 2019: P. 1-7</jats:p

Genetic variations among individuals of BLRI Cattle Breed-1 in successive generations

This study aimed to identify the genetic variation among different generations of BLRI Cattle Breed-1 (BCB-1) and its relationship with indigenous Pabna cattle. A total of 20 ISAG-FAO recommended microsatellite DNA markers were used for this study. Blood samples were collected randomly from fifteen animals of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of BCB-1, Pabna cattle and RCC as reference cattle breed. The DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification by using microsatellite markers and finally capillary based fragment length analysis was performed by genetic analyzer. The allele number per locus ranged from 5 to 14 in the studied populations. The mean numbers of alleles ranged from 4.95 in 3rd generation of BCB-1 to 7.55 in indigenous Pabna cattle. The mean numbers of alleles per locus decreased in 3rd and 4th generation. Both observed and expected heterozygosity decreased in subsequent generations in BCB-1. The observed heterozygosity decreased in BCB-1 from 2nd to successive generations (0.7257 in 2nd generation to 0.6232 4th generation). The average observed heterozygosity was highest in indigenous Pabna cattle (0.7393). Genetic distance between 3rd and 4th generation of BCB-1 are very low they are more homogenous. Indigenous Pabna cattle and RCC showed more genetic distance from all generations of BCB-1. Dendrogram based on DA genetic distance using unweighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) indicated segregation of the four generations of BCB-1 into cluster 1 and 2 which are grouped together and separated from the cluster 3 of indigenous Pabna cattle and cluster 4 RCC population. According to genetic structure of BCB-1, it may treat as a unique cattle population of Bangladesh.&#x0D; Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 26 (1&amp;2), 2019: P. 8-14</jats:p

Growth performance of yearling F1 progeny of different crossbred beef cattle

Bangladesh has a great demand of beef but it has been facing demand and supply mismatches due to insufficient production and supply of beef, low carcass yield of native cattle and recent no-cattle export policy of a long bordered neighboring country. Thus, the present work was undertaken with an objective to develop market beef cattle of average &gt;150 Kg carcass weight by 24 months with an average FCR of &lt;6.50 under on farm feeding and management condition. Aiming at developing breeding bulls the native dams of BCB-1 (BLRI Cattle Breed 1) were inseminated with the imported frozen semen of Brahman, Simmental, Charolais and Limousin. The crossbred progeny of different assorted F1 genotypes were being selected and their production and breeding performance were evaluated and compared with BCB-1.  All pregnant (&gt; 6 months of gestation period) cows were in pre-natal care, and all calves were raised in a single plane of nutrition and management. All crossbred progeny performed better than BCB-1 in terms of live weights and average daily gains. Among the crossbreds, Charolais×BCB-1 had the highest (p&lt;0.001) birth weight (27.5±1.52 kg) followed by Brahman×BCB-1 (24.1±1.23), Simmental×BCB-1 (21.9±1.78), Limousin×BCB-1 (19.8±1.39) and BCB-1×BCB-1 (18.4±1.09), and the genotypes differences were highly significant (p&lt;0.001).  In average growth curve, Simmental cross grew faster followed by Charolais, Limousin, Brahman crosses and purebred BCB-1. The genotype×environment interaction was only observed in birth weight. Purebred BCB-1 had the lowest daily DM intake and showed the lowest FCR in all ages compare to other crosses. Calf scour and alopecia occurred in all genotypes. In this breeding program, calf mortality was found as 5.26%. Simmental×BCB-1 is performing as the best among the five genotypes in terms of growth up to 12 month of age.Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2017. 46 (2): 82-87</jats:p