Response to anaplasmosis among naturally infected Mafriwal cattle with high heritability in body weight https://doi.org/10.12982/VIS.2026.085
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Abstract
This study investigated the association between bovine anaplasmosis infection and the heritability of body weight of Mafriwal cattle. Molecular diagnosis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting MSP4 of Anaplasma marginale and 16s rRNA of Anaplasma centrale was used to confirm the infections, while serological testing with a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) identified antibodies against Anaplasma spp. Phenotypic data (packed cell volume, antibody presence, infection status, and Friesian blood percentage) and pedigree data were collected from a Mafriwal’s breeding population in December 2021 and May 2022. Body weight data from calves (n = 350) was used for heritability estimation using an animal model. The model was fitted using the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) through the pedigreemm package in R. Fixed effects included year of sampling, PCV, antibody presence, infection status, and Friesian blood percentage, while pedigree-linked animal identification was included as a random effect to account for genetic variance. Significant negative associations were found between body weight and PCV (p = 3.01 x 10-3), infection status (p = 2.57 x 10-5) and year of sampling (p < 2 x 10-16). Heritability estimate for body weight was 0.814, indicating strong genetic influences on the production trait even under infection pressure. The findings highlight a complex interaction between disease exposures and the heritable productivity traits of Mafriwal cattle.
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