We first sought to clarify the effects of discounted rate, survival rate, and lactation persistency as a component trait of the selection index on net merit, defined as the first five lactation milks and herd life (HL) weighted by 1 and 0.389 (currently used in Japan), respectively, in units of genetic standard deviation. Survival rate increased the relative economic importance of later lactati...

Fatty acid composition influences the nutritional quality of milk and the technological properties of butter. Using a prediction of fatty acid (FA) contents by mid-infrared (MIR) spectrometry, a large amount of data concerning the FA profile in bovine milk was collected. The large number of records permitted consideration of more complex models than those used in previous studies. The aim of th...

This study explores the biological role of the Fat Mass and Obesity associated (FTO) gene locus on milk composition in German Holstein cattle. Since FTO controls energy homeostasis and expenditure and the FTO locus has repeatedly shown association with obesity in human studies, we tested FTO as a candidate gene in particular for milk fat yield, which represents a high amount of energy secreted ...

In most of the world’s population the ability to digest lactose declines sharply after infancy. High lactose digestion capacity in adults is common only in populations of European and circumMediterranean origin and is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation to millennia of drinking milk from domestic livestock. Milk can also be consumed in a processed form, such as cheese or soured milk, which...

The use of molecular genetic information in the evaluation of livestock has become more common. This study looks at the efficacy of using such information to improve the genetic evaluation of a rare breed of dual-purpose cattle. Data were available in the form of pedigree information on the Gloucester cattle breed in the United Kingdom and recorded milk and beef performance on a small number of...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic effects for the muscle hypertrophy mutation (mh) of the myostatin gene for conventional milk production traits and for milk fatty acid composition in dual-purpose Belgian Blue dairy cows. For the present study, only cows from a single herd, in which genotype frequencies were as balanced as possible (0.266 for +/+, 0.523 for mh/+, and 0.211 for...

The aim of our study was to estimate effects of polymorphisms in the ATP-binding cassette G2 (ABCG2), fatty acid synthase (FASN), oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1), peroxysome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1alpha (PPARGC1A), prolactin (PRL) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5A (STAT5A) genes on milk production traits and detailed milk-fat ...

The pituitary-specific transcription factor (PIT1) gene is responsible for pituitary development and hormone secreting gene expression in mammals. PIT-1 is studied as a candidate genetic marker for growth, carcass and also for milk yield traits. In dairy farm animals, the principal goal of the selection is the improvement of milk yield and composition. The genes of milk proteins and hormones ar...

Maize silage is fundamental for high milk production in dairy farming. The incorporation of new genetic diversity into temperate maize germplasm has the potential to improve adapted cultivars, and it could be especially useful improving nutrition varieties. goal this study assess lines from Germplasm Enhancement (GEM) project compete with commercial hybrids when crossed elite temperate-adapted ...

Feed costs represent greater than 50% of the costs of producing milk. Several practical strategies have been applied to help minimize costs, including reduced feed losses during storage, reduced shrink at feed out, and determining favorable pricing for commodity feeds. Much less attention has been directed towards improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle. Although recognized as an important co...