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The consequences of carrying the Booroola fecundity (FecB) gene on sheep liveweight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

G.A. Walling ,
K.G. Dodds ,
S.M. Galloway ,
A.E. Beattie ,
E.A. Lord ,
J.M. Lumsden ,
G.W. Montgomery  and
J.C. McEwan
G.A. Walling
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Invermay Agricultural Centre, Private Bag 50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand
K.G. Dodds
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Invermay Agricultural Centre, Private Bag 50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand
S.M. Galloway
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia
A.E. Beattie
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Invermay Agricultural Centre, Private Bag 50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand
E.A. Lord
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Invermay Agricultural Centre, Private Bag 50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand
J.M. Lumsden
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia
G.W. Montgomery
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4029, Australia
J.C. McEwan
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Invermay Agricultural Centre, Private Bag 50034, Mosgiel, New Zealand
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Extract

The increase in ovulation rate caused by the Booroola gene was first observed in the Booroola Merino strain of sheep (Davis et al., 1982) and the gene was subsequently mapped to sheep chromosome 6 (OOV6) (Montgomery et al. 1994). The low heritability of fertility traits and the desire to produce more lambs per ewe from meat breeds has lead to many crossbreeding programs seeking to obtain the benefits of the Booroola gene. However, many producers report animals carrying a Booroola allele to be lighter than non-carriers (G. Davis, personal communication). The Booroola Merino strain of sheep is typically lighter than recipient breeds used in the introgression programmes e.g. Romney. This study aims to determine whether the Booroola gene has a pleiotropic effect on liveweight or whether there is any evidence to suggest a closely linked quantitative trait locus (QTL) affecting liveweight that may ‘hitchhike’ with the Booroola gene.

Type
Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2000 , 2000 , pp. 43
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2000

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References

Davis, G.H., Montgomery, G.W., Allison, J.A., Kelly, R.W. and Bray, A.R. 1982. Segregation of a major gene influencing fecundity in progeny of Booroola sheep. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 25: 525–529 Google Scholar
Dodds, K.G. 1999. Haley-Knott regression mapping of quantitative trait loci in extended pedigrees. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 13: 313–316.Google Scholar
Montgomery, G.W., Lord, E.A., Penty, J.M., Dodd, K.G., Broad, T.E., Cambridge, L., Sunden, S.L.F., Stone, R.T. and Crawford, A.M. 1994. The Booroola fecundity (FecB) gene maps to sheep chromosome 6. Genomics 22: 148–153 Google Scholar