Genotyping of Endemic for Rhodopa Mountains Shorthorn Rhodopean Cow Breed

ABSTRACT

Shorthorn Rhodopean cattle breed is one of two endemic for Bulgaria cow breeds. The breed is characterized by high vitality and fertility, calving ease, resistance to diseases, and low requirements for feed. Milk yield is low, but fat and protein content of milk are high. Therefore it is of high significance to reveal the genotype profile of that cattle population which represents the aim of present study. 38 animals of that breed were genotyped for two lactoprotein genes: kappa-casein and alfaS1-casein through PCR-RFLP analysis. The results for kappa- casein locus show slight superiority of heterozygous AB genotype and prevalence of uncommon B allele. Analysis of polymorphism of alfaS1-casein gene displays that about 53% of the animals are with homozygous BB genotype, about 34% - with heterozygous BC genotype and only ∼13% (5 cows)—with homozygous CC genotype.

It may be concluded that Shorthorn rhodopean cow breed is with specific genotype profile similar to other cattle population in South-Eastern Europe.

Keywords:

• Shorthorn Rhodopean cattle breed
• milk protein genes
• genotyping
• biodiversity