Sign in
Spotted and Polled Cattle: Phenotypic and Genotypic Characteristics
The dominant genetic trait for the polled (no-horns) is the dominant, and the recessive one is for spotted coat color. If a bull is purebred to produce solid coat color and polled traits, while a cow is heterozygous for either polled or solid coat colour of its offspring, then the possible genotypes for the offspring include polled-horned as well as solid and spotted colours. The parents’ genotypes will determine the genotype of their offspring. The bull’s genotype is Pp (where P is dominant for polled, and p is recessive for horned) and SS (where S is dominant for solid coat colour, and s is recessive for spotted). The cow’s genotype is PpSs, where P is dominant for polled, p is recessive for horned, S is dominant for solid coat colour, and s is recessive for spotted. These genotypes will determine whether the bull’s offspring and the cow’s are a Pp, Pp or Ps genotype. These correspond to the phenotypes for spotted, polled and solid coat colours. According to a study published in 2019, “a polled calf was born from a heterozygous polled cow and a heterozygous horned bull” (Morshed et al., 2019). The offspring may have one of the previously mentioned genotypes or phenotypes.
