The effects of polymorphisms in calpain, calpastatin and growth hormone genes on growth traits in Angus cows

Abstract

The study was aimed to determine the allele and genotype frequencies of SNPs for gene calpain (CAPN316), calpastatin (CAST282) and growth hormone (GH L127V) in Aberdeen-Angus (n=52) and to evaluate their impact on body weight dynamics until age of 5 years. The allele and genotype frequencies was CAPN316: C = 0.45, G = 0.55; CC = 19.2%, CG = 51.9%, GG = 28.9%, CAST282: C = 0.75, G = 0.25; CC = 53.8%, CG = 42.3%, GG = 3.9%, GH L127V: C = 0.34, G = 0.66; CC = 9.6%, CG = 48.1%, GG = 42.3%. There is correlation between the number of C-alleles for GH L127V and increase in body weight from birth till two years. The CAPN316 and CAST282 alleles associated with meat tenderness effect on live body weight increase after two year age. A significant effect of genotype CC CAPN316 is observed at the age of three and four years. It was concluded, that selection aimed to improve meat quality does not lead to a significant reduction in live body weight.