¹Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Erciyes University, TR-38000 Kayseri - TURKEY
²Department of Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, TR-38000 Kayseri - TURKEY DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2018.20193 Live weight and body measurements are economically important quantitative traits that affect carcass yield and calf survival in cattle. Four genes, growth hormone gene (GH), myogenic factor 5 (MYF5), fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) and signal transducers and activators of transcription 5A (STAT5A) were chosen as candidate genes for live weight and body measurements due to their important role in growth. The aims of this study were to genotype GH-AluI, MYF5-TaqI, FABP4-HinII and STAT5A-AvaI polymorphisms and to investigate their associations with live weights and body measurements in Holstein young bulls. Genotyping of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in these candidate genes was carried out using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Frequencies of L allele for GH, A allele for MYF5, G allele for FABP4 and C allele for STAT5A were, 0.96, 0.61, 0.79 and 0.74, respectively in the examined animals. The regression analysis indicated that the GH-AluI polymorphism showed an association with weaning weight (WW), 180th day weight and hearth girth from birth to 180 days of age. The MYF5-TaqI polymorphism was found to influence body length at birth and birth weight (BW). However, no significant association was detected between the FABP4-HinII genotypes and measured traits. The GH-AluI and MYF5-TaqI polymorphisms may be useful for selection on live weight and body measurement traits in Holstein young bulls. Keywords : GH, Live weight, MYF5, RFLP, Weaning weight