Identification of novel single-nucleotide polymorphism at exon1 and 2 region of B4GALT1 gene and its association with milk production traits in crossbred cattle of Kerala, India.

Beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase-I gene (B4GALT1) is an important candidate gene for milk performance traits, encodes catalytic part of lactose synthesis. Main objectives of present study is identification of single-nucleotide polymorphism in exon 1 and 2 region of B4GALT1 and to find significant association of genetic variants with milk performance traits in crossbred cattle of Kerala. The study was conducted on two hundred crossbred cattle maintained at various farms of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, India. Genomic DNA was isolated and polymorphism of gene were detected by Single Strand Confirmation Polymorphism. Genotype and allelic frequency were estimated. Chi-square analysis revealed that screened population is under Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a novel non-synonymous single-nucleotide variation (T94A) in exon 1 and a non-synonymous mutation of T97C in exon 2 of B4GALT1 gene in the screened cattle population. Association analysis of genetic variants was done with milk production traits and major non-genetic factors using fixed models. Different genetic variants of B4GALT1 was significantly associated with 305 days milk yield, lactose, protein percent. Study indicates existence of genetic variability in B4GALT1 gene on crossbred cattle of Kerala and suggests a scope of considering genetic variants of B4GALT1in selection strategies.

Multivariate principal component analysis to evaluate growth performances in Malabari goats of India.

Evaluation of growth performances in Malabari goats was done with body weight and major morphometric traits, viz. body height, body length and chest girth at 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. Data pertaining on 1082 Malabari goats spread over a period of 5 years (from 2014 to 2018) were used in the study. Least squares analysis of traits was done to adjust the effect of major significant non-genetic factors. Traits were analysed by using Varimax rotated principal component analysis (PCA) with Kaiser normalization to explain growth performances. Out of twelve principal components, PCA revealed four components explained about 67.78% of total variation. The first component (PC1) explained 28.02% of total variation. It was represented by significantly positive high loading of BH9, BH12 and BH6. The second component explained 15.090% of total variance with high loading of distance between BL9, BL6 and BL12. The third component explained 12.643% of variance and showed high component loadings for CG9, CG6 and CG12. The fourth factor accounted for 12.020% of total variability with comparatively higher loading WT12, WT9 and WT6. The communality ranged from 0.562 for BL12 to 0.848 for BH9. The body weight of adult Malabari goats was predicted using stepwise multiple regression of different interdependent morphometric traits and principal components. The multiple regression model with PC1 and PC2 was most precise with coefficient of determination (R2) value 74%. Therefore, the study revealed that extracted components revealed maximum variability of growth performances in Malabari goats which could be effectively used for selection and breeding programmes.

Estimation of co-variance components and genetic parameters of fertility and production traits in crossbred cattle of Kerala.

Estimation of co-variance components and genetic parameters of fertility and production traits will help to find out the relative importance of genetic and environmental components of each trait and to develop a genetic evaluation system for overall improvement in performances of crossbred cattle of Kerala. In the present study, major fertility trait considered was daughters pregnancy rate (DPR), measures the percentage of non-pregnant animals that become pregnant during each oestrous cycle. Data pertaining to 1180 crossbred cattle sired by 208 Frieswal bulls, spread over a period of 16 years from 2003 to 2019, maintained at different farms of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and field centres of ICAR- Filed Progeny Testing Scheme were analysed in the study. Estimates of covariance components and genetic parameters were obtained using restricted maximum likelihood (REML) approach using average information (AI) algorithm. It was observed that DPR had low heritability (0.092 ± 0.03), compared to 305 days milk yield (MY) (0.170 ± 0.094) and fat percent (FP) (0.173 ± 0.072). Phenotypic (rp), genetic (rg) and residual (re) correlation indicated unfavourable association of fertility with production traits. The estimates of variance and (co)variance components were computed by multivariate animal model. The results indicated that DPR was having lower direct additive (σ2a) 0.046 and environmental variance (σ2c) 0.063 compared to other traits. Highest additive genetic variance (σ2a) 27035.8 was obtained for MY. The study estimates the magnitude of correlations and covariances of fertility and production traits. Since DPR had lower additive genetic variance and negative association with milk production traits in cattle, it would be included as an indirect measure in the evaluation and breeding programs of crossbred cattle of Kerala.

Metagenomic analysis exploring taxonomic diversity of rumen microbial communities in Vechur and crossbred cattle of Kerala state, India.

Rumen, one of the most productive diverse microbial habitats plays a vital role in the breakdown of feed to produce energy for maintenance and milk production in cattle. Culture-based procedures could identify only 10% of microbial species present in the rumen. Kerala, one of the southern states of India, owns only one native cattle breed, the Vechur cattle, which is noted for its short stature, disease resistance and adaptability to hot humid climate. Lower population density and decreased milk production potential of Vechur cattle led to the development of crossbred cattle of Kerala, with higher milk yield. A study was conducted to assess the rumen microbial profile of low productive Vechur cattle and high productive crossbred cattle for a better understanding of the relationship between the host and microbial community. DNA isolated from rumen liquor of five cattle each from both genetic groups maintained on standard ration (forage, concentrate ratio of 50:50) was subjected to whole metagenome sequencing. Bioinformatics and statistical analysis revealed that bacteria followed by archaea and eukaryota dominated in the Vechur cattle as well as the crossbred cattle rumen. Bacterial community was dominated by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes phyla in both genetic groups with a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio of 0.45 in Vechur cattle. Among archaea, Euryarchaeota was more abundant, which constitute methanogens, contributing 98% of total archaeal reads. Prevalent protozoal genus found in the Vechur cattle rumen was Entodinium and in crossbred cattle rumen was Entamoeba. In Vechur and crossbred cattle rumen, 1086 and 1262 microbial species were observed exclusively and 4731 species were shared between habitats. There was a significant difference in total microbial species abundance between the two genetic groups and Vechur cattle displayed significantly higher microbial diversity compared to crossbred. As per literature, this is presumably the first report of rumen metagenome profile of Vechur cattle, a unique short breed of India.