POLYMORPHISMS AT GROWTH-HORMONE AND PROLACTIN LOCI IN INDIAN CATTLE AND BUFFALO

A total of 57 Indian Sahiwal (Bos indicus) cattle and 53 Murrah and 19 Nili-Ravi (Bubalus bubalis) buffalo were screened using PCR/RFLP to d etect the following alleles at growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL) loci: leucine/valine (L/V) for GH/AluI (amino acid 127), (+/+) for GH /MspI (intron III), and A/B for PRL/RsaI (amino acid 103). Among Sahiw al cattle, gene frequencies were 0.96/0.04 (GH/AluI), 0.86/0.14 (GH/Ms pI), and 0.49/0.51 (PRL/RsaI). In buffalo, animals of both breeds were homozygous for GH loci (LL, ++). In Egyptian buffalo, 11 samples were also monomorphic, indicating that monomorphism at these two loci may be a species characteristic of buffalo. PRL/RsaI frequencies were 0.93 /0.07 and 0.84/0.16 in Murrah and Nili-Ravi buffalo, respectively.