A genome scan for quantitative trait loci affecting milk production in Norwegian dairy cattle

An autosomal genome scan for quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting milk production traits was carried out on the Norwegian Dairy Cattle population. Six half-sibling families with a total of 285 sons organized according to a granddaughter design were analyzed by a multiple marker regression method. Suggestive QTL for one or several of the five milk traits (milk yield i protein percentage, protein yield, fat percentage and fat yield). were detected on chromosomes 3, 5, 6, 11, 13, M and 20. Among these results, the findings on chromosomes 3, 6, and 20 are highly supported by literature. The most convincing result was found close to marker FBN9 on chromosome 6, where a QTL was detected with alleles that cause a marked reduction in both protein and fat percentages and an increase in milk yield. The results for fat and protein percentage were highly significant even after accounting for multiple testing across the genome. Using bootstrapping, a 95% confidence interval for the position of the QTL for the percentage traits on chromosome 6 was estimated to 16 cM.