Associations of Male Fertility Traits with Blood Groups and Blood Protein Polymorphisms in Dairy Cattle

Abstract

The relationships between 12 polymorphic systems and bull fertility were studied in the Swedish Red and White dairy cattle population. The material consisted of 1447 young bulls with non-return rates based on at least 500 inseminations each. A reduced animal model including a full additive relationship matrix was used. Multiple regressions were fitted for the estimation of the average gene substitution effects as well as the gene-frequency-independent effects of additive gene action and dominance. To evaluate the results a multivariate analysis of variance, classical segregation analyses and marker frequency studies were performed. Significant associations were found between the F, B, Tf, S and C systems, and nonreturn rates, but the contribution of the markers to the total variation of non-return rates was small.