Association of gene BoLA DRB3.2 with production traits in a dairy herd of Antioquia, Colombia

Objective. To determine the associations of BoLA DRB3.2 alleles present in Holstein and BON x Holstein cattle to production and milk quality traits in a dairy herd of Antioquia, Colombia. Materials and methods. Ninety-one cows, 66 Holstein and 25 BxH, were genotyped for the BoLA DRB3.2 gene, through PCR-RFLP technique. Furthermore, the association of the alleles of the gene BoLA DRB3.2 with milk yield (PL305), fat yield (PG305), protein yield (PP305) fat percentage (PGRA) and protein percentage (PPRO) were determined, using a general linear model. Results. Twenty-seven BoLA DRB3.2 alleles were identified; the most frequent alleles in Holstein were: BoLA DRB3.2*23, 22, and 24 with frequencies of: 0.159, 0.129, and 0.106, respectively and the most frequent alleles in BxH were: BoLA DRB3.2*23, 24 and 20 with frequencies of: 0.20, 0.140, and 0.120, respectively. Associations of BoLA DRB3.2 alleles with production and milk quality traits were also determined. In Holstein cows the BoLA DRB3.2*36 allele was associated with low PL305 (p≤0.01), high PGRA in multiparous cows (p≤0.05) and high PG305 in primiparous cows (p≤0.01). The BoLA DRB3.2*33 allele was associated with increased in the PPRO in multiparous cows (p≤0.01). In BXH cows only the BoLA DRB3*19 allele was associated with high PGRA (p≤0.05). Conclusions. The gene BoLA DRB3.2 shows high polymorphism in both groups; Holstein and BxH and some of its allelic variants were associated with production and milk quality traits.