Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXIII, Issue 1
Written by Constantin GĂVAN
Vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) is essential for human health and current intake level of this vitamin is too low. Bovine milk is an important dietary source of vitamin B-12 and natural enrichment of the milk vitamin B-12 content may help to increase the intake levels. The aim of this study was to quantify the genetic variation in levels of vitamin B-12 in the milk of dairy cows. In this study milk (n= 194) samples were collected from first lactation Holstein Friesian cows, and analyzed for vitamin B-12 content. Vitamin B-12 content varied from 1.08 to 9.66 mg/l with a mean of 3.93 ± 1.58 mg/l. The amount of genetic variation between cows in vitamin B-12 content in milk was reflected by an estimated heritability of 0.36. This heritability of 0.36, combined with a coefficient of variation of 40% for vitamin B-12 content in milk indicates that average milk vitamin B-12 content of the cow Holstein Friesian population can be increased by genetic selection.
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