Cytogenetic Screening of Breeding Herd of Malnad Gidda Cattle

Abstract

Breeding herd of Malnad Gidda cattle (12 No.s) from the Malnad Gidda Research and Information Centre, Veterinary College, Shimoga were screened for the chromosome profile through short-term lymphocyte culture method. The methodology adopted for invitro lymphocyte proliferation was standardized and the proliferation was to the extent of 72.27 per cent, 23.34 per cent of the proliferated cells have reached metaphase stage and in that 4.39 per cent of the chromosome spreads were fit for karyotyping. This revealed that the procedure adopted was suitable for karyotyping of Malnad Gidda breed of cattle. The diploid chromosome number was 60. All the 29 pairs of autosomes were acrocentric, while X- was sub-metacentric and Y was acrocentric. The mean relative length of autosomes ranged from 5.214 ± 0.061 to 2.230 ± 0.074, The X chromosome was the largest in the karyotype5.719 ± 0.177 while the Y chromosome was the smallest with a relative length of 1.060 ± 0.504. Among the animals screened no chromosomal abnormalities was observed. The present study also revealed that the chromosome architecture of Malnad Gidda cattle was similar to that of other indigenous breeds of cattle of India.