Association of DRB 3 EXON 2 Alleles with Productive and Reproductive Performance of Crossbred Cattle

Abstract

Bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) is essentially responsible for disease resistance in cattle; however there is possibility of its association with other economically important traits. BoLA has been studied extensively for DRB3 gene polymorphism in zebu as well as exotic cattle and their association with several disease resistance traits. In this report we tried to study the association of DRB3 polymorphism in crossbred cattle with milk characteristics and reproduction status. A total of 11 alleles were found in the population that had more than 3% frequency. Least squares mean for 305 days milk yield in crossbred cows was 2412.79±68 kg and average daily milk protein yield was 2.98±0.02 g. In the study we could not see statistically significant association of DRB3 polymorphism with the milk yield or milk protein content of the crossbred cattle, indicating they are independent of each other. For reproductive status of cattle, we could clearly see the biased distribution of alleles for the repeat or normal breeders. Alleles DRB3*0801, *0701, *2801 and *1505 were exclusive to normal breeder category. Similarly alleles *1101, *0801, *1801 and *1601 had higher frequency in normal breeder category. There was no allele exclusive to repeat breeder category, however, alleles *3201, *0201 and *1103 had tendency to fall in repeat breeder category.