@article {3672,
	title = {Genome-wide association study of UV-protectant ambilateral circumocular pigmentation in Hereford cattle},
	journal = {New Zealand Journal of Animal Science and Production},
	volume = {81},
	year = {2021},
	month = {01/2022},
	pages = {39-44},
	address = {Online},
	abstract = {Hereford cattle have a dominantly inherited white face that is characteristic of their breed. A small proportion of Hereford cattle present with regions of pigmentation around the eyes, known as ambilateral circumocular pigmentation (ACOP), which is hypothesised to provide UV-protectant properties to the underlying tissue. ACOP has been associated with reduced incidence of two diseases, bovine ocular squamous cell carcinoma, and bovine infectious keratoconjunctivitis, making it a desirable trait for selection. We conducted a genome-wide association study for ACOP in 605 American Hereford cattle using 43,789 genetic markers, and investigated the phenotypic association between face-colour and ACOP. The most highly associated variant from our genome-wide association study mapped to Chr6 g.71059814G>A and explains most of the variation for this trait. This variant falls in close proximity to the well-known coat-colour patterning gene KIT, suggesting it may be the causal gene for this trait. Our results suggest that ACOP is not directly influenced by face-colour, and may be influenced by non-additive genetic effects. These results provide an opportunity to select for Hereford cattle with ACOP, enhancing welfare, and reducing the incidence of bovine infectious keratoconjunctivitis and bovine ocular squamous-cell carcinoma.


Keywords: Hereford cattle; ambilateral circumocular pigmentation; ocular squamous cell carcinoma; infectious keratoconjunctivitis; GWAS; pigmentation traits},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Jivanjia S and Koscha T and Littlejohn M and Garrick DJ}
}
@conference {89246,
	title = {Quantitative trait loci associated with variation in maximum milk flow rate in Friesian -Jersey cross bred cows},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {73},
	year = {2013},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {168-170},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {<p>On New Zealand dairy farms, the milking process consumes more than half of the available labour hours (Jago et al. 2010). While some recent research has shown some potential to improve labour efficiency of dairy farms during milking (Jago et al. 2010), the speed of milking is, in large part, dictated by the slowest milking cows in the herd.</p>
},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Davis SR and Littlejohn M and Ellison R and Spelman RJ}
}
