Association of transferrin genotypes and production traits of Holstein-Friesian cows in Vojvodina

The aim of this study was to identify genotypes of transferrin, evaluate their frequency in population of Holstein-Friesian cows, and to study association of transferrin genotypes with productivity of cows. Blood samples were collected from 249 healthy adult Holstein cows, daughters of 18 sires, reared at farm in Vojvodina. The nine transferrin (IT) genotypes were identified: three (transferrin AA, D1D1 and D2D2) of these were homozygous and the remaining six (transferrin AD1, AD2, AE, D1D2, D1E and D2E) heterozygous. The frequencies of genotypes AD2, D1D2, D2D2 and AD1 were 0.29, 0.20, 0.17, and 0.11, respectively, while the other genotypes had frequencies below 0.11. The frequency of alleles A, D1, D2 and E, which was derived from the frequency of genotypes, was 0.30 for allele A, 0.19 for allele D1, 0.45 for allele D2 and 0.06 for allele E. In the analyzed population, cows Tf genotype D2E, AD2, D2D2, and D1D2 had the highest average of milk and milk fat yield in the first three standard lactation, while cows genotype AA, AD1 and ME had the least amount. Analysis of variance showed that Tf genotype had a non-significant effect in the case of milk fat. However, cows which showed the highest performance for milk fat yield in three standard lactations were phenovarients Tf D2E, AD2, D2D2 and D1D2 in the analyzed population. Based on these results, the general conclusion can be made that the cows with Tf genotype AD2 recorded best results in all observed traits, and that cows which were heterozygous for Tf gene had higher milk yield and milk fat than the cows homozygous for Tf gene

Cadmium levels of edible offal from Saanen goat male kids

Concentration of cadmium was investigated in the heart, tongue, lungs, spleen, liver, kidney, testis, brain and thymus of 15 Saanen goat male kids. This element was determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after microwave digestion. The cadmium concentration was significantly influenced by the type of edible offal. Mean cadmium concentrations ranged from 0.018 mg/kg (heart) to 0.114 mg/kg (kidney). The maximum cadmium concentrations found in the kidney (0.133 mg/kg) and liver (0.075 mg/kg) were below maximum levels (1.0 and 0.5 mg/kg, respectively) set by legislation for these tissues

COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PORKERS OF MANGALITSA AND YORKSHIRE RACE

The aim of study was to compare the economic characteristics of production of porkers Mangalitsa and Yorkshire race. The observed productions should provide the raw material for the production of traditional fermented sausages, or specific products with protected origin. According to this a calculation is derived with the total cost of fattening pigs Mangalitsa and Yorkshire race to the slaughter weight of 132 pounds under the conditions of modern farm housing system. The above calculation includes the cost of materials, the cost of energy and external services, salary costs and amortization of facilities and equipment used. In this way we can get to the total costs of finishing of pigs produced per kilogram of live weight without the overhead costs. The costs are calculated as described above for Yorkshire race and it is 120.88 RSD/kg or 1.26 €/ kg and it is lower than the current purchase price in the market. On the other hand the costs of finishing Mangalitsa race are significantly higher than the purchase price of pigs bred races and it is 245.19 RSD/kg or 2.13 €/kg, which is caused by a slow weight gain and inefficient feed conversion compared to the refined race

Estimation of nonadditive genetic impacts on lifetime performance through a grading-up breeding program with Holstein-Friesian

The aim of this study was to estimate the total lifetime milk production and non additive genetic effects (recombination and heterosis) of cows with different proportions of Holstein-Friesian genes, obtained from the Serbian Fleckvieh (SF) and the Holstein-Friesian (HF) crossbreeding program in Vojvodina. Upgrading of local breeds with the Holstein-Friesian breed in Vojvodina started in 1971 and continued 2008. Six genotypes of cows (F-1, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-5) were obtained with increasing percentage of Holstein genes, in order to attain purebred Holstein cows. Of all obtained genotypes, cows of genotype R-4 with a proportion of Holstein genes from 96.87 % had the highest lifetime milk production (20000 kg), followed by cows R-3 with 19950 kg (93.75 % HF genes) and cows R-5 with 19850 kg (98.44 HF genes). Finally the process of upgrading resulted in pure Holsteins with 19780 kg of milk. The total lifetime production of milk fat did not show statistically significant difference (P>0.05) among the genotypes R-1 - R-5 which ranged from 675 to 690 kg. The pure Holstein obtained after sixth intermediate generations had the average lifetime milk fat production of 690 kg. With the increase in the proportion of Holstein-Friesian genes percentage of milk fat was decreased, so that the cows of genotypes R-3, R-4, R-5 and pure Holsteins, had less than 3.5 % milk fat. In relation to the total milk yield, the highest realized heterosis effect was observed in the cows of F-1 generation (h(F1)(R) = 594 kg), while the lowest was observed in generation R-2 (h(R2)(R) =72 kg), where negative effect of recombination was also found (r(R2)(I) =-77 kg). Positive values of the actual and relative of heterosis effect of the milk fat yield was observed in all genotypes, whereas the negative heterosis effect of the milk fat percentage was observed also in all genotypes, with the exception of R-1 and R-2 cows, in which the typical consequence of the positive recombination in the early crossed Holstein-generations was manifested