Maria Selvaggi, Vito Laudadio, Cataldo Dario*, Vincenzo Tufarelli

Department DETO – Section of Veterinary Science and Animal Production, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, 70010 Valenzano (BA) Italy.

*Correspondence | Cataldo Dario, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Valenzano, Italy; Email: cataldo.dario@uniba.it

Abstract
β-lactoglobulin is the main whey protein of milk from different species. To date, β-lactoglobulin gene (BLG) is one of the most investigated in ruminants including sheep. β-lactoglobulin was the first protein, in which polymorphism was found. Polymorphisms of BLG gene have been detected in several sheep breeds, but studies on the effects of BLG genetic variants on milk production traits and cheese making ability have given conflicting results. Therefore, this paper represents a detailed and updated review on β-lactoglobulin gene polymorphisms in many sheep breeds worldwide. Moreover, the associations among BLGpolymorphisms and milk yield and composition as well as milk coagulation properties were reported to offer a complete overview on these topics.

Keywords | Sheep, β-lactoglobulin, Gene polymorphisms, Milk production, Milk coagulation

Editor | Kuldeep Dhama, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Received | June 14, 2015; Revised | July 15, 2015; Accepted | July 17, 2015; Published | July 24, 2015

Citation | Selvaggi M, Laudadio V, Dario C, Tufarelli V (2015). β-lactoglobulin gene polymorphisms in sheep and effects on milk production traits: A review. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 3(9): 478-484.

ISSN (Online) | 2307-8316; ISSN (Print) | 2309-3331

Copyright © 2015 Selvaggi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.