Abstract

A paternal half-sib family of purebred Angus cattle was used to examine the associated effects of six marker loci on growth and carcass traits. Among 146 half-siblings, offspring that inherited the paternal BGKOxYjA’0 ' B blood group system phenogroup had 9.1 kg heavier 205-day (weaning) and 17.3 kg heavier 365-day (yearling) weights than half-sibs that inherited the alternative paternal B system phenogroup l2Y2E',Y’
 (P< .05). Steers that inherited the BGKO.YjA’O’ phenogroup also had significantly leaner carcasses (-2.6 mm fat thickness at the 12th rib) than sibs that inherited l2Y2E’,Y’. A highly significant association between BoLA-A and rib-eye area in steers was found (P<.001). The four other genetic systems, RBC-C, F-V, Tf and Gc, had no significant effect on growth or carcass traits (P>.05). These results indicate that the B blood group and BoLA systems are linked to genes that affect preweaning growth and lean muscle content, respectively

H. A Lewin, J. E Beever, Rohan L Fernando

Proceedings of the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Volume XIII. Plenary lectures, molecular genetics and mapping, selection, prediction and estimation., , 117–120, 1990