Abstract

DNA profiles, or fingerprints as they are often called, provide the basis for a powerful parentage test that has a number of applications for the animal breeding industry. Two examples of its use are presented here. During a breeding program where single sires were being mated to groups of ewes, two groups became mixed, compromising the experiment. Using DNA profiling results, each of the progeny could be assigned to one of the two rams. The second example involves the auditing of pedigrees which the Booroola gene is segregating. In searching for a DNA marker that segregates with the Booroola gene it is essential that flock records are accurate. In one pedigree a number of individuals that were wrongly assigned as daughters of a heterozygous Booroola sire were identified. In another pedigree all daughters were correctly assigned.

RM, Fenwick, and KJ Kirkpatrick

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 50, , 375-380, 1990