Relationship between Transferrin type and Productive Traits in Beef Steers2

Abstract

Blood serum transferrin types of 763 beef steers were determined by starch gel electrophoresis. Because the steers were on different feedlot treatments, their records were analyzed by the least squares method to estimate possible relationships between transferrin type and productive traits in beef steers. The analysis showed that there was neither a significant relationship between transferrin type and gain in the feedlot, nor between transferrin type and carcass characteristics. Estimates of gene frequencies for different transferrin alleles in Hereford cattle based on serum types of 618 animals were 47.98, 11.97, 39.33 and 0.72% for Tf^A, Tf^D1, Tf^D2 and Tf^E, respectively. There were some discrepancies between the observed and expected frequencies among different types, but the differences were not significant. Copyright © 1967. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1967 by American Society of Animal Science