The impact of the paternal genetic makeup on the copper concentration in the livers of offspring in cattle

Abstract

he copper content in the liver of the progeny of four Holstein breed bulls was investigated. Research was done in Kemerovo, Russia. The identical dietary and lodging conditions were established for all groups of offspring after their birth. The copper concentration was studied using atomic emission spectrometry on the SOLAR M6 series instrument in the Analytical Center of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, named by V.S. Sobolev. The determination of the heavy metal content in water, soil, and fodder within the dairy cattle zoning was conducted, with the result that the level did not exceed MAC. The normal distribution was determined by using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The Dunn’s test, coupled with Holm’s correction, was employed to evaluate the offspring of the four fathers. The influence of Holstein-bred bulls on copper deposition in offsprings was established. The amount of it in some bulls sons was higher than in others by 2.7 times (49.4 mg/kg). According to the Cu concentration in the liver, bulls were arranged in the following order: 2.7 : 2.0 : 1.3 : 1.0. The concentration of Cu in the liver of the offspring of the fathers was characterized by distinct phenotypic variations. The strength of influence (rw) of the father’s genotype on the variation of copper levels in the liver of sons was 25%. Two groups of fathers were identified with different levels of copper in the livers of their offspring: one group had levels of copper from 49.4 to 38.5 mg/kg, and the other group had levels from 27.6 to 18.2 mg/kg. The variability of copper content in the livers of the offspring of different fathers turned out to be low and ranged from 6.4% to 10%.