Genetic parameters of milk cholesterol content in Holstein cattle

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate heritability for milk cholesterol (CHL) and genetic correlations between milk CHL and other production traits (test-day milk, fat, and protein yields, fat and protein percentages, and somatic cell score). Milk CHL content was determined by gas chromatography and expressed as mg of CHL in 100 g of fat (CHL_fat) or in 100 mg of milk (CHL_milk). Univariate models were used to estimate variances and heritability, whereas bivariate models were used to compute correlations using data from 1793 cows. The average concentrations (standard deviation) of CHL_fat and CHL_milk were 275.63 (75) mg and 11.16 (3.63) mg, respectively. Milk CHL content was significantly affected by days in milk and herd (P < 0.05), but not by parity, regardless of the scale of expression. Heritability estimates for CHL_fat and CHL_milk were 0.06 ± 0.04 and 0.17 ± 0.06, respectively. Phenotypic and genetic correlations between CHL_fat and CHL_milk were 0.82 and 0.44 ± 0.24, respectively. CHL_fat had nonsignificant genetic correlations with all production traits, whereas CHL_milk had significant (P < 0.05) genetic correlations with milk yield (−0.47), fat yield (0.51), protein percentage (0.56), and fat percentage (0.88). This is the first study to estimate genetic parameters for milk CHL content. Further studies are required to assess the possibility of genetically selecting cows with lower milk CHL content.