Abstract
The objective of this study was to explore the genetic structure of Belgian and Qinchuan cattle, with a particular emphasis on identifying genes associated with reproductive functions.A total of 270 Belgian and 286 Qinchuan cattle were genotyped using the Illumina Bovine SNP 50K microarray. Data processing was conducted using PLINK and Beagle 5.1 to calculate linkage disequilibrium (LD) and effective population size (Ne).Candidate SNP loci were identified by selecting the top 5% based on the fixation index (Fst) and nucleotide diversity (PI), followed by gene annotation.The analysis revealed 160 candidate genes in Qinchuan cattle and 98 candidate genes in Belgian Red and Belgian Red and White cattle. Key genes associated with reproductive function, including NFKBIA, PTHLH, UGT2B10, TRPC4, and ALOX5AP, were identified.This study provides valuable molecular markers for the genetic improvement and selective breeding of Belgian cattle, particularly in enhancing their reproductive efficiency.