Genetic analysis of milk urea nitrogen and lactose and their relationships with other production traits in Canadian Holstein cattle.

The objective of this research was to estimate heritabilities of milk urea nitrogen (MUN) and lactose in the first 3 parities and their genetic relationships with milk, fat, protein, and SCS in Canadian Holsteins. Data were a random sample of complete herds (60,645 test day records of 5,022 cows from 91 herds) extracted from the edited data set, which included 892,039 test-day records of 144,622 Holstein cows from 4,570 herds. A test-day animal model with multiple-trait random regression and the Gibbs sampling method were used for parameter estimation.

Analysis of milk urea nitrogen and lactose and their effect on longevity in Canadian dairy cattle.

The aim of this study was to assess the phenotypic level of lactose and milk urea nitrogen concentration (MUN) and the association of these traits with functional survival of Canadian dairy cattle using a Weibull proportional hazards model. A total of 1,568,952 test-day records from 283,958 multiparous Holstein cows from 4,758 herds, and 79,036 test-day records from 26,784 multiparous Ayrshire cows from 384 herds, calving from 2001 to 2004, were used for the phenotypic analysis. The overall average lactose percentage and MUN for Ayrshires were 4.

Selection indices in Holstein cattle of various countries.

Fifteen countries, based on geographical representation, Interbull membership, and size of progeny testing programs, provided a brief description of national selection index and top bull listings from August 2003. Individual traits included in each selection index were grouped into 3 components as they related to production, durability, and health and reproduction. The relative emphasis for each component within the selection index, as well as the number of common bulls among top listings were compared across countries.

Ontogeny of IGFs and IGFBPs mRNA levels and tissue concentrations in liver, kidney and skeletal muscle of pig.

As far as we know, there is no available information about ontogenic changes of tissue concentrations of IGF-I and II and IGFBPs in large mammals. Serum, liver and kidney levels of IGFs and IGFBPs were examined in fetuses at 90 and 110 days of gestation and in pigs at 1d, 3 wk, 3 mo and 6 mo of age. Ontogeny of mRNA levels of IGFs, IGF type I and type II receptors (IGFI-R and IGFII-R), IGFBP-1 and -3 (IGFBPs) and growth hormone receptor (GHR) were also examined by Northern blot analysis in liver, kidney and skeletal muscle of pig.