Interrelationships of Erythrocyte Characters and Other Characters of British and Zebu Crossbred Beef Cattle

Abstract

The following red cell characters were studied in a herd of 217 calves repre-senting Brahman cross, Africander cross, Grade Brahman, and British (Hereford X Shorthorn) breeding, and in their dams: packed cell volume, haemoglobin level, red cell count, fragility, potassium and sodium concentrations, catalase activity, and haemoglobin type. There were distinct breed differences. In some characters, e.g. packed cell volume and potassium concentration, Africander cross were inter-mediate between Brahman cross and British, whereas in others, e.g. fragility and catalase activity, they were indistinguishable from British. Within breeds, the characters showed highly repeatable differences between animals and high herita-bilities.

Tick Resistance in Cattle: Its Stability and Correlation With Various Genetic Characteristics

“…and increase in [K+o]. The question therefore arises whether the differences for the values reported in the present study, and by Evans (1963) and Evans and Turner (1964) in Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle, could possibly be due to greater parasitic or tick infestation in Bos taurus cattle causing anaemia (Little, 1963), and not to basic differences between the two species occurring in the absence of such infestation. Boddie (1962) gives the mean P.C.V.…”

Red cell electrolyte distribution and its possible significance in zebu cattle

“…The presence of three distinct subtypes within the major LK type as well as the constancy of red cell K + values in individual animals within the subtypes as observed in zebu cattle in the present instance together with the observations of Ellory & Tucker (1970) that gen-etically controlled LK and HK red cell types appeared to exist in Jersey cattle will perhaps permit the tentative suggestion that red cell K + distribution in cattle, similar to that in sheep, might be under polygenic control involving major and minor alleles. Evans & Turner (1965) observed that in six cattle breed groups arranged in ascending order of apparent adaptation to tropical environment, the packed cell volume, haemoglobin and red blood cell count increased significantly through the series and red cell K + concentrations fell significantly. In the present study, the LLK-subtype animals (mean red cell K+ 12-5 m-equiv/1) showed significantly higher values of pcv, Hb and RBC than MLKsubtype animals (mean red cell K+ 19-5 m-equiv/1).…”