Weaning of dairy calves is an early life husbandry management practice which involves the changeover from a liquid to a solid feed based diet. The objectives of the study were to use RNA-seq technology to examine the effect of (i) breed and (ii) gradual weaning, on the whole blood mRNA transcriptome of artificially reared Holstein-Friesian and Jersey calves. The calves were gradually weaned ove...

Pit-1 gene has been identified as the pituitary specific transcription factor that regulates the expression of the growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) genes in the anterior pituitary. The use of polymorphic markers in breeding programmes could make selection more accurate and efficient. A total of 252, 181 Holstein cows and 71 native East Anatolian Red (EAR) cattle, were genotyped for polym...

In this study, the genetic diversity of three milk protein genes namely beta-casein, kappacasein and beta-lactoglobulin was estimated in Turkish cattle breeds. Based on these genes, breeds in Turkey have been grouped as: 1) Eastern Anatolian Red, Anatolian Black and Southern Anatolian Red and 2) Turkish Grey, Turkish Holstein and Holstein Candidate Bulls. B alleles of the three studied genes, w...

The objective was to evaluate the effect of beta-lactoglobulin (beta-lg) polymorphism and seasonality on milk composition (fat, lactose, total solids, milk urea nitrogen, total protein, true protein, casein and somatic cell counts) of Holstein and Girolando cows. Milk and blood samples from 278 Holsteins cows and 156 Girolando cows were taken during two dry seasons and two rainy seasons, for mi...

OBJECTIVE Holsteins are known as the world's highest-milk producing dairy cattle. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic regions strongly associated with milk traits (milk production, fat, and protein) using Korean Holstein data. METHODS This study was performed using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip data (Illumina BovineSNP50 Beadchip) of 911 Korean Holstein individuals. ...

The aims of this study were to evaluate the seasonal variation and frequency distribution of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Haematobia irritans, and Dermatobia hominis on crossbred heifers under field conditions in the northeast of Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil. From November 2007 to September 2009 (23 months), 40 heifers aged 16.6 ± 2.4 months were divided into groups A (1/4 Ho...

To assess relationships between nucleotide polymorphisms of the prion protein (PRNP) gene and susceptibility to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), we investigated polymorphisms in the open reading frame (ORF) and 2 upper regions of the PRNP gene from 2 Japanese cattle breeds: 863 healthy Holstein cattle, 6 BSE-affected Holstein cattle, and 186 healthy Japanese Black (JB) cattle. In the ORF...

BACKGROUND Factor XI (FXI) is a plasma protein that participates in the formation of blood clots. Factor XI deficiency is autosomal recessive hereditary disorder that may be associated with excess bleeding in Holstein cattle. METHODS In this study, 225 Holstein cows reared in Turkey were screened in order to identify FXI genotypes. DNA extractions were obtained from the fresh blood of the cow...

Dystocia or stillbirth accompanied by Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS) occurs rather frequently in Holstein nuclear transferred calves. In regard to prophylaxes, nuclear transferred Holstein fetuses were monitored with ultrasonography during the final stage of gestation. Fetal weight was estimated weekly based on the fetal metacarpal width using ultrasonography. Fourteen Holstein cows pregnant wi...

There are several different milking management systems in Latin America, because Gir cattle are reputed to be easily stressed and not well adapted to machine-milking. This paper, therefore, provides an overview of hormone release and behavior during suckling and milking in Gir cows and their cross-bred offspring. Several experiments were performed to study oxytocin release during exclusive suck...