Journal article

Effect of DGAT1 variant (K232A) on milk traits and milk fat composition in outdoor pasture-grazed dairy cattle

Y Li, H Zhou, L Cheng, GR Edwards, JGH Hickford

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research | TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD | Published : 2021

Abstract

An amino acid substitution (K232A) in the enzyme diacylglycerol acyl-CoA acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) has been reported to explain variation in milk traits and milk fatty acid (FA) profile. In this study, associations between K232A, and milk traits including milk FA composition, were studied in wholly pasture-fed New Zealand Holstein-Friesian × Jersey cross-bred (KiwicrossTM) dairy cows. With a high frequency of K variant (61.9%), the KK cows produced more milk fat on average (5.41 ± 0.04%), than the AA cows (4.43 ± 0.06%). The milk volume, fat concentration and protein concentration for the AK cows were between the values for the genotypes AA and KK. More C16 : 0 (saturated fatty acid), conjug..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Gene-Marker Laboratory, Lincoln University


Funding Acknowledgements

Financial support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (DRCX 0802; Dairy Systems for Environmental Protection; NZ) and Lincoln University Gene-Marker Laboratory are acknowledged. We thank Helen Hague from Lincoln University for sampling. We also thank the manager and staff of LUDF for their support. Conceptualisation, YH. Li and JGH. Hickford; Methodology, YH. Li and H. ZHOU; Software, YH. Li and H. ZHOU; Validation, JGH. Hickford; Formal Analysis, YH. Li; Investigation, YH. Li and L. CHENG; Resources, L. CHENG and H. ZHOU; Data Curation, YH. Li; Writing - Original Draft Preparation, YH. Li; Writing - Review & Editing, JGH. Hickford; Visualisation, YH. Li and JGH. Hickford; Supervision, JGH. Hickford; Project Administration, JGH. Hickford and GR. EDWARDS; Funding Acquisition, JGH. Hickford and GR. EDWARDS.