본 연구는 2019년부터 2021년 9월까지 수집된 홀스타인 젖소 19,930두의 자료를 수집하였으며, 3 SD (Standard Deviation, SD) 범위에서 벗어나는 이상치를 제외한, 8,675두를 분석에 이용하였다. 자료분석은 Statistical Analysis System (SAS) 9.4 software를 사용하였고, 뒷유방높이, 뒷유방너비, 유방깊이, 유두길이 및 유두둘레의 실측치를 사용하였다. 그리고 뒷유방높이, 뒷유방너비, 유방깊이, 유두길이 및 유두둘레의 실측치와 산차, 305일 유량, 비유단계 및 착유속도의 환경요인의 효과를 추정하였다. 산차와 유량이 증가함에 따라 뒷유방너비, 유두길이 및 유두둘레의 실측치는 유의적으로 증가하는 것으로 나타났으며(p < 0.0001), 비유단계에 따라서 뒷유방너비 및 유방깊이의 실측치는 비유단계가 증가할수록 유의적으로 감소하는 것으로 나타났다(p < 0.0001). 각 환경효과에 따른 유방형질 실측치의 표현형 상관의 결과에서는 뒷유방너비와 유방깊이 실측치가 산차 및 유량수준에 대해 높은 상관을 나타냈으며, 특히, 유방형질 중 유방깊이 실측치와 산차에 대해 -0.40 ~ -0.67로 높은 음(-)의 상관을 보였다. 본 연구 결과로 미루어 볼 때, 유방형질이 유생산에 밀접한 관련이 있는 만큼 중요한 형질로 취급되어야 하며, 이들의 기초연구와 함께 유전적 특성을 구명하는 등 더 많은 연구가 수행되어야 할 것으로 사료된다.

The objective of this study was to identify the phenotypic relationships among calving difficulty, calf birth weight and gestation length of Holstein dairy cattle under the environment of Korea. A total of 1,834 calving records collected by Dairy Science Division of National Institute of Animal Science, RDA from 2000 to 2014 was analyzed. General linear multivariate models for calving difficulty scores (CD: 1=no assistance, 2=minor assistance, 3=two to three persons assisted, 4=more than three persons assisted, 5=cesarean section), calf body weight at birth (BW), and gestation length (GL) included fixed effects of year and season (spring, summer, autumn, winter) of births (YS), sex of calves, and parity. For GL and BW, all three fixed effects (YS, sex of calves, parity) were significant (p<0.05). For CD, the effects of YS and sex of calves were significant (p<0.05). Bull calves were born with heavier BW by 3.18 kg, with greater CD by 0.18 point and with longer GL by 0.6 days than heifer calves. The least squares mean of BW was the heaviest at the third parity (44.1 kg) compared to those at the first, the second and the fourth parities or later (41.3-41.9 kg). The least squares mean CD at the first parity was 1.74 point, which was higher than CD at the second and later parities (about 1.68 points). Phenotypic correlation (partial residual correlation) between GL and BW was 0.36. But those between GL and CD and between BW and CD were -0.03 and 0.04, almost zeros. To conclude, we observed higher incidence of calving difficulty in the first calving than in the later ones. Further investigation on the relationships between calf’s birth weight and calving difficulty is needed

Bovine mammalian gland has biopotential in therapeutic protein production and could be used as a model in further lactation researches. In this study, we have isolated bovine mammary gland-derived epithelial cells (BMECs) from Korean Holstein dairy cattle and themselves show differential dynamic ability in in-vitro culture. BMECs enables to form lobulo-alveolar structure, express milk production related gene. Functional studies indicated that BMECs secret exogeneous antibacterial fragment-Bovine Lactoferricin B (bLfcin-B), which is inserted in PiggyBac system, and this bioactive fragment inhibits the growths of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. These data demonstrated that BMECs open new scope in either bioactive fragment, heading to prevent the spread of mastitis or post-mastitis damage in dairy graze and could be an ideal bioreactor for antibacterial proteins.